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THE PHILOSOPHY OF DISSENT.

"Even now, after eighteen centuries of Christianity, -we
may be involved in some tremendous error, of which the
Christianity of the future will make us ashamed." — Vinet.

^e"^

THE

PHILOSOPHY OF DISSENT

Analytical Outlines of Some

FREE CHURCH PRINCIPLES,

BY

J. COURTENAY JAMES, Ph.D.

..ii^-

Hontron :
JAMES CLARKE & CO., 13 & 14, FLEET STREET E.G.

1900.

PREFACE.

The problem of the Church is seriously considered
by only a small portion of the community.
Eeligious indifference is sadly too general in our
day, and it is the source of much scepticism and
ungodliness. The lack of interest in ecclesiastical
questions is indicative of national unhealthiness.
The loosely-attached members of the various
Churches are generally unversed in the history,
doctrines, and polity of their respective Denomina-
tions. This touches a serious weakness in Noncon-
formity. Romanists and Anglicans give much
attention to the instruction of their young people
in the principles and dogmas of their Churches ;
hence the tenacity with which the members of
these Churches hold to their ingrained beliefs.
Nonconformists are not so systematically trained
in the distinctive tenets of their theology and
government, and consequently are more easily
detached from the Church of their fathers.

vi Preface.

The Lectures, of whicli this volume contains
the substance, were prepared to meet what I felt
to be a need in my own congregations. They are
published at the request of friends who believe
they contain a timely and salutary message to
the whole Christian Church. They are, however,
intended chiefly for intelligent young Noncon-
formists who are not satisfied with a mere de-
nunciation of Eoman and High Anglican dogmas,
but who seek the positive grounds upon which
Tree Church doctrine and polity are based.

The subjects dealt with in the following pages are
only apart of a larger series. If this volume meets
with sufficient appreciation it will be followed by
another containing Lectures on the Free Churches
in their relation to Theology, Religious Author-
ity, the Sacraments, Social Questions, and other
topics. In view of this wider scheme the title of
the work has been chosen. By the word '^ Phil-
osophy" is meant a rational explanation of the
existence and principles of the Free Churches.
By the word " Dissent " is meant separation from
the service of an Established Church. Some Free
Churchmen object to the word " Dissent " because

Preface. vii

it is a negative term ; but I deliberately employ
the word^ partly on the ground of its historical
associations, and partly because it was never more
necessary to dissent from certain claims of the
Establishment than it is to-day.

I cannot claim much originality either for the
subjects discussed or for the views advanced, but
I venture to hope that the analytical arrange-
ment of the book will make it easy to follow and
suggestive to the reader. My indebtedness to
various standard authors is, in most cases, in-
dicated by footnotes throughout the volume. Other
obligations are frankly acknowledged in this place.
In a few instances I have criticised the positions
of the Free Churches. The tendency to ex-
treme Independency or Ecclesiastico-Democracy is
thought to be equally unjustifiable, with the ten-
dency to extreme Connexion alism or Presbyterio-
Methodism. Considerable space is given to the
subject of the " Church and State," because I am
convinced that the dissolution of the unholy
alliance is the only effectual solution of our
National Religious Problem.

Throughout I have endeavoured to be fair in

viii Preface.

the representation of others' opinions, and accur-
ate in the reference to historical facts. I can
scarcely hope to have escaped all ecclesiastical bias
any more than all indefensible statement. But
I have consistently sought the truth, and shall be
happy to eliminate discovered error.

In concluding these prefatory remarks I have
to acknowledge, with special gratitude, the assist-
ance of the Eev. Josiah Flew, M.A., for many
valuable suggestions, for reading the proof-sheets,
and for preparing the Index.

J. COURTENAT JaMES.

October, 1900.

CONTENTS,

THE EELiaiOUS CEISIS.

Introduction — The Problem.

I. The Philosophic Basis of Sacerdotalism

1. A false conception of God

2. The influence of cultured paganism . . .

3. The fascination of mystery

4. The effects of metaphysical scepticism

II. The Inevitableness op Revolt Against

Ecclesiastical Tyranny

1. The place of Eeformation

2. The Need for Comprehensive views . . .

3. Spirituality seeks to free itself from

ternalism

4. The demands of the New Age

III. The Basis of the Evangelical Protestant

Hope

1. Some grounds for Pessimism

2. Significant signs for Optimism

(1) Gleams amid political gloom. (2) Ad-
justment of the individual to Society.
(3) Eetreat of advanced Biblical
Criticism. (4) Protestantism and the
Experimental Method.

3. The alliance . between Protestantism and

Prosperity

PAGE

5—16

5

8.

11

13

17— 3a

17
21

23
27

30—46

31
35

44

Contents.

II.
CONCEPTION OF THE CHUECH.

Introduction — History of the Word " Church.

PAGE

I. The Jewish Synagogue and the Christian

EccLEsiA 50 — 60

A. Some points of likeness : —

1. The Jewish Congregation was not a

fortuitous gathering 54

2. The Jewish Congregation was a Theo-

cracy 55

B. Some points of unlikeness : —

1. The New Testament Church not so

identified with the nation 57

2. The New Testament Church recognises

a truer religious liberty 58

II. The idea and use of the word Church in

the New Testament 60 — 77

1. The connotation of the term when it came

into the New Testament 60

2. The word " kingdom " in relation to the

Church 62

3. The two chief senses in which the term is

employed ... ... ... ... ... 66

(1) The universal Church. (2) The local
congregation.

4. The chief metaphors setting forth the mani-

fold phases of the Church 69

5. The conception of Church-membership ... 71

(1) The New Testament did not contem-
plate unattached Christians. (2)
Fellowship a sine qua non of spiritual
growth. (3) Membership contingent
upon certain conditions.

Contents. xi

III. The Evangelical Protestant (or Free-
Church) View of the Church 77 — 91

1. The Nonconformist claim often misrepre-

sented 78

2. The Church is not an end in itself 80

3. Divisions inevitable and sometimes beneficial 82

4. Organic union, however desirable, is not

essential ... ... ... ... ... 85

5. The universal presence of Christ 88

III.
THE DOCTRINE OF OEDEES.

Introduction — How to approach a controversial subject.
I. The Scriptural Doctrine of the Ministry 96 — 113

1. The Jewish Priesthood 96

2. Christ's attitude towards the Jewish priest-

hood ... 97

3. Typical Illustrations 100

(1) The case of the Apostle Paul. (2) The
case of the Apostle Judas.

4. New Testament terminology 106

5. The Two Orders of the Apostolic Church ... 108

(1) The Presbyteriate. (2) The Dia-
conate.
II. The Sacerdotal Doctrine of the Ministry 113 — 121

1. The tendency to check Eeformation ... 113

2. The Sacerdotal claim ^ 115

3. The value of the Sacerdotal claim 117

(1) The proof adduced. (2) The broken
chain.
III. The Free Church Doctrine of the Ministry 122 — 133

1. E^sume of Free Church teaching 123

2. History contradicts dogma 124

(1) The conclusions of Bishop Lightfoot.
(2) The effects of Sacerdotalism on
national life.

xii Contents.

PAGE

3. Ordination does not create grace ... ... 127

4. Wesley's view of ordination 130

(1) Wesley's earlier and later position.
(2) Ordinations after Wesley.

IV.

CHUECH GOVERNMENT.

Introduction — Not details, hut general principles found in the
New Testament.

I. Types of Ecclesiastical Polity

138—147

1. Congregationalism 139

2. Presbyterianism 141

3. Episcopalianism 144

II. New Testament Precedents 147-165

1. The form of the New Testament Church not

a finality 148

2. The basis of the earliest type of organisa-

tion 150

3. The mode of appointing Church officers ... 153

(1) Elders. (2) Deacons.

4. Local autonomy 159

5. Growth of inter-communion 160

(1) The Jerusalem Church a common stan-
dard, (2) Financial co-operation.
(3) Plurality of congregations and
pastors.

III. Connexionalism versus Independency ... 165 — 177

1. Defects of extreme Independency 166

(1) Lack of strength from union. (2) In-
sufficient guarantee of purity. (3)
Deprecates the authority of the
pastorate. (4) Inadequate lay-agency.
(5) Incompetent missionary force.

Contents. xiii

PAGE

2. Advantages of some Connexionalism ... 170

(1) Anomalies respecting the ministry.

(2) Benefits of a common Exchequer.

(3) Incitement to a wider outlook.

V.

THE POSITION OF THE LAITY.

Introduction. — Meaning and use of the term.

I. The Position of the Laity in the New

Testament 182—190

1. The fundamental equality of men 183

2. The priesthood of all believers 184

3. The co-operation of the people in Church-

administration ... 186

(1) In the election of Church officers.
(2) In the administration of Church
Sacraments.

II. The Position op the Laity in Churches

OF THE Episcopal Type 190 — 200

1. General statement of the position ... ... 190

2. The Laity in the Church of Eome 193

d) Celibacy of the clergy. (2) Withdrawal
of the Cup. (3) Seclusion of the clergy .
(4) Exclusion of the laity.

3. The Laity in the Church of England ... 199

III. The Position of the Laity in Churches

OF THE Ebfobmed Type ... 200 — 218

201
202
204
206

1. The Lutheran Church ...

2. The Calvinistic Church

3. The Presbyterian Church

4. The Congregational Church

xiv Contents.

PAGE

6. The Methodist Church 207

(1) The position of the laity is unique:
(o) The modern position of the laity-
is an outgrowth ; ()8) The modern
position of the laity is based upon New
Testament precedent. (2) The position
of the laity criticised : (a) The auto-
cracy of the pastorate ; (;8) The exclu-
sion of the members.

VI.

CHURCH AND STATE.

Part I. — History of the Establishment.
Introduction. — Why should Dissenters interfere?

I. Types op Church and State Eelationship 222 — 231

1. Mutual Equality 223

2. Supremacy of the Church ,., 224

3. Supremacy of the State 226

4. Eeciprocal independence 229

II. The State Church is comparatively a

modern INVENTION 231—241

1. No true analogy in the Hebrew Common-

wealth 232

2. No parallel in the States of antiquity . . . 234

3. Unknown to Mediseval Christianity 236

4. Properly dates from the sixteenth century . . . 238

III. Inconsistencies of Protestantism in accept-
ing State Control 241 — 248

1. It violated a principle which gave it

momentum ... ... ... ... 241

2. It ignored its Divine credentials 243

3. It inevitably adopted a persecuting attitude 245

4. Its uniformity checks spontaneity 247

Contents. xv

VII.

CHURCH AND STATE.

Part II. — The Eationale or Disestablishment.

Introduction — No idea utterly foreign to environment.

PAGE

I. Permanent State Religion is an impossibility 252 — 262

1. Conscience is awakening to its own inde-

pendence 252

2. Secular control is antagonistic to the spirit

of Christianity 254

3. An established and endowed Church prevents

national and religious equality ... ... 257

4. The State- Church must ultimately decide

between identity and separation 260

II. Advantages of Disestablishment 262 — 274

(1) Reforms demanded. (2) Remedies sug-

1. Advantages to the State 266

(1) The constitution of Parliament renders
it unfit to control the doctrine and
discipline of the Church. (2) Dis-
establishment would remove one of
the chief sources of national discord.

2. Advantages to the Church ... ... ... 26^

(1) The Church would have the power of
self -reform. (2) The spiritual dynamics
of the Church would be greatly
increased.

XVI

Contents.

VIII.

THE IDEA OF PEOGEESS.

Introduction — Clinging superstitions.

I. General Grounds 278—288

1. Progress is not in a straight line 278

2. Permanent elements and different manifes-

tations 279

3. Motion is in the direction of least resistance 282

4. Conservation of principle is not conservatism

in method 285

II. Particular Laws 288—303

1. Surrender of the outgrown 288

2. Struggle for existence 292

3. Adaptation to environment 295

4. Inclusion of diverse elements 298

4. Limitless possibility 302

Index 305—307

I.

THE RELIGIOUS CRISIS.

)'*'^

THE RELIGIOUS CRISIS.

Fifty years ago Agassiz^ writing as a scientist,,
said : ^^ We have reached a point where the results
of science touch the problem of existence, and all
thoughtful men are listening for the verdict which
solves the great mystery." Unabated enthusiasm
has characterised the investigations of the last
half-century ; but physical research is no nearer
the solution of the great mystery of life. Evolu-
tion is not the cause, but the process in the
development of life. For a knowledge of origins,
we do not listen to Darwin and Haeckel, but to the-
first great law-giver. " In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth." The rise and^
progress of natural science, which at one time^
threatened the citadel of religion, has resulted in
a more indisputable proof of God's existence and
the prevalence of an Almighty Will. Many who
set out upon a great metaphysical exploration
predisposed toward Atheism, after careful inquiry
into the origin and philosophy of existence, return

The Religious Crisis.

pronounced theists. Similar crises are to be found
in the history of the Church. Tlie clouds have
gathered more dense over the ecclesiastical sky,
until the overthrow of religion appeared imminent.
Thus w^as it under the despots of imperial Rome ;
thus v^as it under the temporal sway of Hilde-
brand ; thus was it under the papal supremacy in
England. But these periods of threatening dark-
ness were the strange precursors of a brighter
day. Amid the terrible moral gloom, a succession
of great lights appeared in the ecclesiastical
heavens. Constantine revolted against the cul-
tured paganism of the Roman State, accepted
Christianity, and in some sense made it a State
religion. Wycliffe rose up against the intolerant
impositions of the Papacy upon the English
Church, and inaugurated a purer creed and ritual.
Luther protested against the enormous assumptions
and loathsome corruptions of Roman Catholicism,
and initiated the great Reformation tide.

Once more the gloom has gathered in our
country. So unobtrusively has the sky been dark-
ened, that multitudes have been unconscious of
the threatening storm. Sixty years ago a cloud
no bigger than a man's hand arose over Oxford.
It has grown so noiselessly that men have not
observed its presence or nature. But it has

The Eeligious Crisis.

spread so vastly that to-day the whole firmament
of the Anglican Church is wrapped in its per-
plexing darkness. The storm is beginning to
break ; we cannot yet estimate the moral damage,
but we anxiously await the result of the present
crisis in the Established Church of our land.

I. — The Philosophic Basis of Sacerdotalism.

The system which through the ages has
manifested itself in hierarchical pretensions and
elaborate ceremonial has deej) springs, and its
source must be sought far back in the recesses
of human nature and history. A mere prima
facie investigation will not disclose the secret of
sacerdotalism. This is to be sought in the trend
of metaphysical thought, in the vicissitudes of
national and ecclesiastical history, and in the
psychical constitution of human nature. There
are more obvious facts, such as reUgious
arrogance, mental delusion, and the love of
power, which are frequently adduced as the basis
of priestly claims. We would here trace the
deeper and less obvious sources of Eomish and
High Anglican dogmas.

1. A False Conception of God.

Nothing is more instructive than a comparison

6 The Eeligiotjs Crisis.

of Greek and Latin ideas of God and the universe.
The Fathers of the Greek Church, Clement of
Alexandria, Origen, and Athanasius, borrowing
their philosophy largely from the Stoics, main-
tained that God was immanent in the universe and
eternally operating through natural laws. Accord-
ing to their view. Deity was not remote from the
world, not a localised personality acting upon the
world from a distance by means of portent and
prodigy. The world was not a dead machine,
mechanically working after some pre-established
order, and only occasionally realising the presence
and interposition of God. But they taught that
God is the eternal and ever-present life and
motion of the world, that through His real
presence the universe in all its complications con-
tinues and acts from hour to hour, and that the
perfect sequence of natural events is the unfailing
manifestation of Divine intelligence and munifi-
cence. On the other hand, the conception of the
Fathers of the Latin Church, notably Augustine,
was very different. Their notion of God may be
traced to ancestor-worship and a ghost-deity as
the originator of all things. In the mono-theism
that resulted from this line of thought, the world
was regarded as an inert mass impelled by blind
force. God was viewed as existing apart from the

The Eeligious Crisis.

world in solitary and inaccessible majesty, as
Carlyle says, " an absentee God, sitting idle since
the first Sabbath, at the outside of His universe,
and seeing it go." This notion of God as distant
from the world prevailed among the disciples of
Epicurus, and is depicted with marvellous skill in
the great poem of Lucretius, " De Kerum Natura,"
one of the greatest triumphs of the Latin intellect.
This conception of God and the world was suited
to the low standard of culture in the Western
world and to the genius of Latin theologians who
began to construct the Imperial Church. The
Augustinian theology prevailed, and in the Dark
Ages became inwrought in the very warp and woof
of Latin Christianity, and is still dominant in
Protestantism as well as Eoman Catholicism.

How this conception of God would affect prac-
tical religion will at once be apparent. The
distant, localised Deity could only be thought of
under terms of humanity ; hence the anthropo-
morphic character of Western theology. The
absentee God was actuated by human passions,
and was to be appeased and propitiated by
hostages and sacrifices. This work of reconciling
the distant God required the mediation of specially
qualified agents. This may be termed the archseo-
logical genesis of the order of the priesthood

The Eeligious Crisis.

and the ritual of sacrifice and sacrament. The
mechanical view of our Lord's relation to the
Church, in like manner, banishes Him to heaven,
and demands a "Yicar" to represent Him on
earth. The Scriptural view of the immanence of
God represents Christ as ever present with His
people, in the midst of them, and in vital union
with every believer. This conception saves us
from all schismatical notions, removes the neces-
sity of a vicarious priesthood, and establishes the
direct communion of every Christian with the
Living Head of the Church.

2. The Influence of Cultueed Paganism.

Uhlhorn, in his great work, "The Conflict of
Christianity with Heathenism," has vividly
depicted the successive assailants of the primitive
Church. Christianity not only came into contact
with Greek philosophy and Eoman imperialism,
but with the prevailing superstitious cultus of the
Western world. And palpably the Christian
Church has been greatly influenced by the various
forms of pagan thought and ritual with which it
came into conflict. The Jewish legalist, the Ori-
ental theosophist, the Greek metaphysician, the
Alexandrian sophist, the Eoman epicurean, all left
some impress upon the plastic creed and discipline

The RELiaious Crisis. 9

of the struggling religion and Church of Christ.
At an early age some refined spirits among the
heathen accepted Christianity, but they naturally
clung to many of their old forms and ceremonies.
In course of time certain phases of these pagan
rites became incorporated in the theology and
ritual of the Christian Church. As Christianity
more widely influenced the patrician classes in the
Roman Empire, so the Church became more and
more a civic and political institution. The priests
and ecclesiastical dignitaries became important
factors in national life. Their most subtle doctrines
and practices were confirmed by the political
establishment of religion by Constantine early in
the fourth century. No more fatal mistake was
ever made than to bring the Church into the
Erastian fetters of the State. The evil accretions
in the Church, derived from theosophic paganism,
would have been thrown off if the ecclesiastical
organism had been free and the individual con-
science at liberty to develop according to its own
spontaneous and divinely inspired ideas. But the
strong arm of the State defended the priest against
the people, maintained ritual against conscience,
and arbitrarily perpetuated the blighting evils,
which paralyse and curse Roman and High Angli-
can Communions at the present time.

10 The JReligioijs Crisis.

It is well to understand this position. The
cumbrous and imposing ritual of the Latin Church
has neither the justification of Scripture nor of
the Apostolic Church. It is largely a growth from
pagan sources_, fostered by the natural superstition
of the human mind^ and cunningly employed by
the priestcraft to bring men into the most abject
religious bondage. We can only regard the
exclusive cult of the Romish and High Anglican
Churches as a gigantic hrutum fulmen, to frighten
superstitious people and to gain a cruel authority
over their consciences and wills. ^^ Many institu-
tions and elements of institutions which have
sometimes been thought to belong to primitive
Christianity belong, in fact, to the Middle Ages.
In the minds of many persons, no doubt, the past
centuries of Christianity seem to be all alike
shrouded in a common mist, and the institutions
of one age are not distinguishable from those of
another ; but it is impossible to look without
regret at the reckless statements which are fre-
quently made in reference to practices which, how-
ever great their practical value, and however great
the sanction which long usage has given them,
still rest upon proved utility and not upon a
positive Divine command.""^

* Hatch, Growth of Church Institutions, pp. 225-6.

The Religious Crisis. 11

3. The Fascination of Mystery.

ReKgion must ever partake of the nature of the
mysterious ; this fact gives it perennial charm and
freshness. In every age of the world this fact has
been seized by a certain caste and subtly wrought
into a system. Under the Jewish theosophy this
system was known as the Cabala, This term
recalls the fact that among the Jews and other
Eastern people, knowledge rested on a sort of
succession, and the best claim for its reception was
an imbroken chain of traditionary evidence. The
Jews were most careful in the establishment of the
succession of the custodians of the truth. While
the truth was revealed in a general way in the
Law, the Prophets, and the Talmud, the Cabala
provided a verbal exposition of these with a deeper
meaning not generally known to the people.
Hence the Cabala became the expression of a
particular theological and philosophical system.
And as nearly all Jewish instruction was verbal
and based largely on memory, the Cabala became
at length a mystery whose secrets were known
only to the initiated. '^ This science consists
chiefly in understanding the combination of
certain letters, words, and numbers, which are
alleged to be significant. Every letter, word.

12 The Eeligious Crisis.

number, and accent of the Law is supposed to
contain a mystery, and the Cabalists pretend even
to foretell future events by the study of this
science." The same principle may be seen in
Eastern religions to-day. There are mysteries
in Hindooism and Buddhism unrevealed to the
common people. The orders of Brahminic priests
alone possess the secrets. Hence they can always
play upon the inherent curiosity of the masses.
The desire to peer into the mysterious is one of
the most characteristic elements in human nature.
The priesthood has not been slow in taking advan-
tage of this fundamental peculiarity of the race.

See how this applies to the subject before us.
Just as the Cabalists claimed that their mysterious
science was delivered to the Jews by direct revela-
tion and transmitted by a duly constituted order
of custodians, so in the Latin Church there is an
order claiming special knowledge and authority
received directly from God through the channel
of Apostolical succession. To make the mystery
more certain and impressive the people are for-
bidden to read and to put their own interpretation
on the Scriptures. The true meaning, it is said,
can be vouchsafed only through the Church by
means of the hierarchy — the Christian Cabala.
Considering the natural pride of the human heart,

The Eeligious Crisis. 13

it is perhaps not surprising that men should claim
this special illumination and spiritual authority.
But considering the advancement of learning on
the eve of the twentieth century, it is surprising
that men should believe in this system of sophistry
and allow themselves to be gulled and enslaved by
it. But such is the weakness of human nature
in matters of religion. Here men are often
exceedingly irrational. There are persons who on
no account would relinquish their business affairs
to the control of another, but who unconditionally
surrender their consciences and wills to the
meretricious acts of arrogant priests. Eeligion is
a difficult problem, and multitudes will not puzzle
themselves in solving its mysteries. They are
glad to silence the voice of the soul by entrusting
their spiritual welfare to the specious guarantees
of the Eomish and High Anglican Churches.

4. The Effects op Metaphysical Scepticism.

Disbelief in the validity of the reason has been
one of the underlying causes of the Eomeward
movement within the Anglican Church during the
last fifty years. Newman having affirmed the im-
potence of the reason for the discovery of the truth,
an affirmation which logically involves the negation
of knowledge, was compelled to seek some other

14 The Eeligious Crisis.

basis for the authentication of the truth. This
he found, as he supposed, in the Church, and in
its completest form in the Roman Catholic Church.
The scepticism of Newman was logically akin to
that of Hume. To the minds of these writers
reason was not a thing in itself. To Hume it was
a series of ^^ impressions and ideas," to Newman
it was a series of '' antecedents and consequents.'*
In each case the difficulty is the same, to know
how the series began, and having begun, how it
reached its present condition. This interpretation
of reason necessarily ends in religious nescience.
If reason in man be not an original gift of God
religion is not a part of its primitive content, and
the natural issue of reason is Atheism. This
was Newman's conclusion. But man has a
religion, and if it did not come through reason
another source must be sought. This Newman
found in conscience or revelation. Conscience,
however, needs a guide, and revelation needs
an authoritative vehicle. This was found in the
^^ Divinity of Traditionary Eeligion." It is said
that all men with a religious faith have had
"more or less the guidance of tradition, in
addition to those internal notions of right and
wrong which the Spirit has put into the heart of
each individual." The deduction is that authority

The Eelioioxjs Crisis. 15

in religion conies from without, and no man can
safely trust his '^ private judgment." The use of
the reason is simply instrumental — to find out the
highest external authority and the most faithful
embodiment of truth. Without such an authority
there can be no religion and no Church. This
authority, in the writings of Newman, is some-
times spoken of as tradition, and sometimes as the
Church. But these are complementary terms.
Tradition supplies the religious material, and the
Church makes the material authoritative. Hence
it follows that the final seat of authority in re-
ligion is the Church. To command authority the
Church must claim infallibility. The Church of
Eome makes this claim in the sphere of religion :
'4t is not in all cases infallible, it may err beyond
its special province, but it has ever in all cases a
claim on our obedience."^

The application of this section will be obvious.
Deny the authority of the reason and the place of
private judgment in matters of religion, and an
external authority becomes necessary. Eoman
and Anglo-Catholics suppose this authority to be
vested in the See of St. Peter. In reply to all
this we would point out ; (1) Eeason is as much a
Divine gift and original endowment as conscience.

* Newman, The Development of Doctrine, p. 125.

16 The Eeligious Crisis.

Both are fallible, but, having the same origin,
they are equally to be trusted. (2) Christ never
entrusted any dogmatic authority to the Church
over the consciences of men, such as is assumed
by the Eomish branch of Christendom. (3) The
New Testament consistently represents religion as
Si personal matter, a relation between the individual
fioul and God. No human intermediary is per-
mitted, no ecclesiastical authority is essential.
Even the Bible is not an authority to Protestants
in the same sense that the Pope is an authority
to Romanists. To Protestants the Bible supplies
the all-sufficient material — the testimonium Spiri-
tus 8ancti externum, to be approved and applied
by the testimonium Spiritus Sancti internum. The
Bible contains the truth of the existence of God
and the Redemption of man, but it can only be
believed as the mind is convinced of its truth and
satisfied with its authority. Jeremy Taylor said :
*^ Whatever is against right reason, that no faith
can oblige us to believe." The Apostle Paul
said the same thing : ^^ Let each man be fully
assured in his own mind.""^

* e/foo-Tos eV T(f Idicfi vol. That is, " in the moral consciousness
of his own reason, therefore, independently of others' judgment,
Assured in himself of the motives of actions."— Meyer on Eom.
xiv. 5.

The Religious Crisis. 17

II.— The Inevitableness of Revolt Against
Ecclesiastical Tyranny.

The great transforming crises in the history of
nations and Churches must be traced to the un-
obtrusive leaven of Christianity silently doing its
work in spite of adverse external circumstances.
This explains the fact that notable revolutions
nave been brought about without the aid of legis-
lative art or physical force. There are two great
social revolutions that stand out in the history of
England — that in the thirteenth century, which
put an end to the tyranny of nation over nation,
and that in the early nineteenth century, which put
an end to the property of man in man. Both
of these were silently and imperceptibly accom-
plished. The former effaced the distinction be-
tween Norman and Saxon, and the latter the
distinction between master and slave. Macaulay
rightly says : " It would be most unjust not to
acknowledge that the chief agent in these two
great deliverances was religion."

1. The Place of Reformation.

We do not here enter into the particulars of
those forces which have brought about the present
confusion in the State Church. No doubt the free
spirit of criticism which has characterised the last

18 The Eeligious Crisis.

twenty-five years has brought many obscure facts
to light_, and has made all types of exclusivism
more and more intolerable. The Higher Criticism
and the spread of general knowledge have opened
the way for an unprecedented religious advance-
ment. Professor Briggs says : " We are prepar-
ing the way for a new reformation that is to put
that of the sixteenth century in the shade."
Nations are purified by revolutions,, Churches
by reformations. Both have the same philo-
sophic basis. They arise from a general spirit of
dissatisfaction with things as they exist. Cruel
laws and unjust administration are always produc-
tive of unrest, agitation, rebellion, anarchy. It
was the Revolution which, though at first it
threatened to break up the Constitution, really
saved the French nation. It was the Revolution of
the seventeenth century, which, seeming at first
to shatter our imperial prestige, really rescued
England from ecclesiastical tyranny and royal
despotism. A revolution means the imperative
demand of the citizens for the redress of wrongs ;
the forcing of reluctant rulers to grant just and
impartial measures to the people. This is charac-
teristic of much modern legislation. Rulers in-
stead of leading in the march of progress by
voluntarily initiating wise laws, wait to be forced

The Eeligiotjs Crisis. 19

to action by the irresistible power of public
opinion. Reformation in the Church arises from
much the same causes as revolution in the State.
There grows up a spirit of intense dissatisfaction
with the ecclesiastical regime. The resolute cling-
ing to outgrown forms, the obstinate refusal to
adapt methods to new conditions, and the culpable
conservatism and bigotry of the hierarchy in
Synod and Convocation, become positive grievances
and intolerable insults. The unwarrantable as-
sumptions of the clergy, and the ruthless exclusion
of the laity, bring upon the Church the withering
blight of sacerdotalism and the unscriptural denial
of free, personal access to God. Reformation in
the Church is frequently the outcome of agitation
among serious persons, who believe in the freedom
of conscience, liberty of thought, the open Bible,
and the unstinted Gospel for all mankind. But here,
too, reforms are generally forced upon the Church by
the people, the alarmed public, and not voluntarily
initiated by lords spiritual and temporal. The
present crisis in the Established Church of
England is a solemn illustration. The disloyalty of
many of the clergy to their ordination vows, and the
unblushing lawlessness of many priests in respect
of their diocesans, are facts condemned alike
by Parliament and people. Yet the Government,

20 The Eeligiotjs Ceisis.

which is the real head of the Anglican Church,
is reluctant to interfere, the Bishops are anoma-
lously impotent, the ecclesiastical chaos intensifies,
and the national Church, quasi-Protestant, semi-
Romanized, presents one of the saddest spectacles
in all the history of the world. It is safer to
predict after an event has occurred, but we are
bold enough to think that the final settlement of
the Church-problem in England will be along the
following lines. The Ritualistic section of the
Established Church, having already accepted the
Romish creed and practice, will sooner or later
secede from the Anglican, and formally join the
papal Church. The Protestant section will slowly
relinquish its State support, and throw off the secu-
lar authority in matters of doctrine and discipline,
and will ultimately unite with Nonconformity. This
prediction is based upon four considerations. (1)
Real Jesuits cannot find permanent satisfaction
under Protestant jurisdiction ; (2) The connec-
tion of Church and State is unnatural, and in
the course of time must be dissolved; (3) Pro-
testantism cannot consistently maintain the
dogma of Apostolical Succession, and, that
abandoned, the validity of Presbyterian ordination
must be universally recognised ; (4) Granted
the foregoing, then no essential difference will

The Eeligiotjs Crisis. 21

remain between Protestant Episcopalians and
Presbyterians, and their co-operation and unity
will develop with time.

2. Need for Comprehensive Views.

We must carefully guard against the Ultramon-
tane error of making the clergy synonymous with
the Church. The exclusiveness of the Church is
answerable for much of the lawlessness of the
people, and for the anti-religious character of
many social and political institutions. Chris-
tianity was never intended for the benefit of a
select few, or for the enlightenment of a portion
of the earth, or for the elevation of certain special
phases of life and history. No nation, no people,
no organisation should be unaffected by the
Church. It should reach and influence all phases
of society and fashion them according to the
highest Christian ideals. Viewed in this compre-
hensive light, the problem of the Church becomes
the most momentous that can occupy human
thought. In the presence of this subject mere
social and political questions will be dwarfed into
secondary importance. The problem really in-
cludes the question of man's relation to God and
of man's relation to man. This is a problem that
must frequently recur in the evolution of human

22 The Keligious Ceisis.

history. The present crisis was, perhaps unwit-
tingiy, foretold twenty-five years ago by James
Anthony Froude. To him the outlook was gloomy
enough. He did not expect any redress of ecclesi-
astical wrongs from the theologians of any school.
Yet he faintly hoped that the people, not divines,
would set themselves to emancipate religion from
the chains of priestcraft, as they did in Germany
in the sixteenth century. He said : ^^ There may
lie before us a future of moral progress which will
rival or eclipse our material splendour ; or that
material splendour itself may be destined to perish
in revolution. Which of these two fates hes now
before us depends on the attitude of the English
laity towards theological controversy in the
present and the next generation." The time pre-
dicted by Eroude has come, and the country is
realising that the solution of the present Church
problem is to come, not from the clergy, but from
the enlightened laity. The solution will neces-
sarily demand the serious thought of the pro-
f oundest minds, and will extend over a considerable
period. It is not a tyro's question, nor the business
of a day. Every suggested reform will meet with
opposition, conflict, apparent defeat before the
ultimate triumph. But of the final triumph of
truth, liberty, fraternity, equality, we have no

The Eeligious Crisis. 23

shadow of doubt. We must take a broad view and a
long perspective. With Dr. Hatch, through the
troubling gloom, we seem to see, ^^ though it be on
the far horizon — the horizon beyond the fields,
which either we or our children will tread —
a Christianity which is not old, but new, a
Christianity in which the moral and spiritual
elements will again hold their place, in which
men will be bound together by the bond of
mutual service, which is the bond of the sons
of God."

3. Spieitualitt seeks to free itself from
exteenalism.

The comprehensive genius of Aristotle threw
considerable light upon the history of animals,
but he had only a suspicion of their meta-
morphoses. These marvellous transformations,
however, were not altogether unknown to the
ancient world. The early Egyptians worshipped
the Scarabseus, or sacred beetle, whose metamor-
phosis was regarded by them as a symbol of the
transmigration of souls. The creatures which
pass through this mysterious change have three
distinct periods in their history. The first is the
repulsive worm or ugly caterpillar; this is the
larva or mask stage, the preliminary disguise of

24 The Eeligious Crisis.

a brilliant future livery. The second is the
chrysalis or nymph stage ; during this period
activity ceases, life seems suspended, and the
creature hides itself in a temporary sepulchre.
The third is the imago or perfect stage ; in this
change the creature awakes from its torpor,
becomes briskly animate, breaks through its out-
worn tenement, and displays itself all glittering
with emeralds and sapphires. Is there not here a
type of every living organism — individual, nation,
Church — in its struggle toward perfection ? There
is Hrst the infantile, initial, inchoate period of
growth; a wild, uncircumscribed liberty which
does not recognise legal or ecclesiastical restraints.
Next there is developed a system of laws, the
cocoon of a cramping externalism. In the State
this may develop into a paralysing imperialism, as
in ancient Rome ; and in the Church it may grow
into an enslaving and inane ritualism, as in
mediaeval and later Romanism. Then comes a
movement from within, a struggle to break
through external barriers, a demand for an ampler
and freer life. The Revolution of 1688 may be
taken as a political illustration, and the Refor-
mation of the previous century as an ecclesiastical
illustration.

As far as the Church of Rome is concerned, the

The Eeligious Crisis. 25

few ecclesiastical ecdyses that have occurred have
not materially affected the general character of
that Communion. The spiritual element in
Eomanism is almost completely entombed in the
accumulation of superstition and dogma. Only
those who have known Eome from the inside, and
then have emerged into the freedom of Protest-
antism, can truly estimate the mighty chrysalis
which infolds the spiritual life of that Church.
The very poverty of its Christian ideas has pro-
duced an elaborate casement to attract the senses,
while the conscience is silenced. In the Greek
and Eoman Churches, and also in the sacerdotal
section of the Anglican Church, the manifesta-
tions of art, the pomp of ritual, the brilliancy of
ceremony, are only splendid veils which hide the
indigence of their spirituality and the inadequacy
of their religious teaching. The very conscious-
ness of their inability to satisfy the loftier crav-
ings of the soul, and to meet the imperative
demands of reason, has forced them into a system
which appeals chiefly to the aesthetic taste, and
quenches the aspirations of the heart. It seems
almost incredible that there should be a revival
of sacerdotalism within the Protestant Episcopal
Church of England. It is to be explained partly
by the systematic and indefatigable instruction

26 The Eeligious Crisis.

which the children in Anglican Sunday and Day
schools have received during the past tvrenty-five
years. A further explanation is to be found in the
unparalleled commercial prosperity of the country
during the same period. Mammonism and Eitual-
ism msLYch. pari passu through nations and centuries.
Eomanism^ too, in every form^ is characterised by
a deadly conservatism. While secular institutions
incorporate the most modem methods and adapt
themselves to present-day conditions, sacerdotal-
ism " still drags slowly along in the subtle
obscurity of its scholasticism. Its mediaeval
methods are excellently adapted to the exposition
of its impossible doctrines, and to the initiation
of the student into the double-shufflings of its
casuistry."

But whenever and wherever the soul is stirred
to seek a freer communion with God, there is a
revolt of the spirit against its external boundaries.
There is such a movement in France to-day.
France has boastingly regarded herself the most
faithful friend of the Papacy, and has contributed
more money and priests to the Eomish Church
than any other country in the world. It is
remarkable that while in England, the most
Protestant nation in the world, there is a section
of the Anglican Church moving towards Eoman-

The Eeligioits Crisis. 27

ism^ in France, the most Eomanist country under
heaven, there is a movement toward Protestantism.
Some of the more enlightened French priests are
awakening to the fact that clericalism and ritual-
ism are but disguised enemies of the nation and
of mankind. They are discovering that where
Eomanism reigns there is sedition, lack of justice,
insensibility of conscience, and a spirit of anarchy.
While there is on the one side the priesthood and
on the other the military, France is always in
danger of rebellion. But a new spirit has touched
many of the clergy, they are renouncing their
Eomish vows, and boldly accepting and teaching
the Protestant faith. M. Bourrier, the leader of
the Protestant ex-priests, edits a religious news-
paper, Le Chretien Frangais, the official organ of
the new evangelical party, which is read by at least
one thousand and five hundred Eomish priests.
Thus in the very stronghold of popery a revolution
has begun whose consequences we cannot predict.

4. The Demands of the New Age.

We are on the threshold of a new age. The
twentieth century will witness such maiTellous
strides in science, philosophy, commerce, and
religion, as will utterly eclipse all previous know-
ledge. But the Government will be upon the

28 The Eeligious Crisis.

people ; crowned heads will be practically un-
crowned ; rulers will be substantially ruled ; the
State will exist, not for the enrichment of
the few, but the prosperity of the whole; the
Church will be loosed from the iron bands of
the State and delivered from the despotism of
the priesthood, and will afford a welcome home
and comfort for weary, heartsore men. The
new age will produce new men; new men will
ask new questions, and will worship at new
shrines. To-day Capital is king, but another
king is invading, and is already ruling multi-
tudes. Labour is the approaching king, the de-
mocracy are coming to their empire, and the
change will be fraught with tremendous conse-
quences. King Capital simply called for " hands,"
but King Labour calls for " heads " as well
as hands. The true prophet of the times
can see that both hands and heads are but
instruments through which there moves an
immortal soul — a soul which itself is but a
ray from the Eternal Spirit who worketh all
in all.

With the new age comes a twofold call. First,
there is a call for patriotism. The decay of
patriotism means the overthrow of the Empire.
This was the secret of the downfall of ancient

The Eeligious Ceisis. 29

Eome. The Numidians were not very formidable
enemies, but after a few months' conflict they
destroyed half the Roman army and captured the
remaining half. Meanwhile tlie nobles of the
Empire were building palaces, inventing new
dishes, and hiring cooks at unheard-of salaries.
Bufc while they neglected their country and
satiated their appetites, the barbarians were at
the gates of Italy .^ The policy of "let us eat,
drink, and be merry" is most disastrous in ita
results. The true patriot loves his country more
than himself, and he resolutely sets his face
against every encroaching enemy that threatens to
destroy his altar and hearth. Popery is a subtle
enemy insidiously encroaching upon our land.
May the country realise its presence before it i&
too late ! If you want to know what this enemy
will do when once more it gains the ascendency,
read the history of St. Bartholomew's Day and of
the Spanish Inquisition. Ko true Englishman
can look on undisturbed at the growing power
of Romanism, but he will exert himself to the
utmost to crush this egregious foe, ere he find
himself under the thrall of papal Rome. Second,
there is a call to Protestants, We protest against
the authority of the Church supplanting the

* Froude, Caesar, ch. 4.

30 The Religious Ceisis.

authority of God's Word. While Sir Henry
Wotton was in Italy as ambassador of King
James I., a Eoman Catholic asked him, '^ Where
was your religion to be found before Luther?"
To which Sir Henry replied, " My religion was to
be found then where yours is not to be found now,
in the written Word of God." Protestantism is
a defence of the wide-open Bible against the
decrees of the Church ; a defence of free access to
a living Saviour against the intermediary of a
priesthood. To gain this liberty our fathers
fought and died. Are we to forget their labour,
suffering, martyrdom ? Are we to allow the
work of the Reformation to be undone before
our very eyes? The answer of Protestants
must not be uncertain, and it must be prompt
and unanimous.

III. — The Basis of the Evangelical Protestant
Hope.

We must not be deceived by the blatant noise of
ambitious Imperialists. Some of them may be
rudely awakened to the fact that pretension is not
strength, vast claims are not practical possessions,
and self-interest is not solid right. If they
blindly persist in their arrogant assertion of

The Eeligious Crisis. 31

"paramount rights/' they invite a catastrophe
such as this Empire has not witnessed since the
present dynasty succeeded that of the Stuarts.
"It may be that the British Empire is destined
to pass, as the Eoman Empire passed. It seems
to us a noble enthusiasm, one calculated to fire
the ambition of all that is best in the youth of
England, that when that time does come we may
leave as a nation to the nations a heritage, not of
vulgarity, not of material wealth, but of high
purpose, of devotion to the uplifting of humanity,
nobly attempted, and, if possible, nobly fulfilled.''

1. There are Some Grounds for Pessimism.

A few leaders of modern English thought con-
tend that the Empire and the Church have
degenerated during the past thirty or forty years.
Is it true that " under the frock coat, the
courteous manners, and the faultless English of
the citizen, you have the primary instincts of the
brute " ? It is painfully true that hypocrisy is
rife, unreality abounds, and selfishness is supreme
in many quarters. The ideal of a noble democracy
is transformed into a galling plutocracy. Money,
not men, rules the Empire. A deadly materialism
shuts out the light of spiritual day. A paralysing
Nemesis shadows the moral character, and a de-

32 The Eeligious Crisis.

grading mammonism blights the mercantile and
political life. Enthusiasm can only be stirred by
the promise of financial gain. Auri sacra fames.
Our literature has declined in tone. A book once
presented the thought of the author, now it re-
presents a price paid ; but when the author abdi-
cates in favour of the reader there is an end of
literature. The modern demand is for the short
story, the problem-play, whose heroines have a
past, and whose heroes come from the slums. The
reek of the pot-house, the fling of the music-hall,
the excitement of the exchange, the duplicity of
the turf, have infected all our popular writings
and doingrs. If the stalwart Puritan character is
lacking in our political and religious life, the
cause is twofold. First, the type of Imperialism
introduced by Disraeli; an Imperialism that is
determined to advance at whatever cost to right
or justice, or at whatever sacrifice to weaker States.
There is an Imperialism which has made, is making,
and will make for the uplifting of England and
humanity. The enduring Empire must have
statesmen who are animated by a noble faith in
humanity, citizens who will sacrifice personal gain
for the general good, and a Parliament based
upon the highest ethical principles. Second, the
materialised type of religious institutions. The

The Religiocts Crisis. 33

Churches were never more in evidence, but vital
religion was scarcely ever less effective in England.
What have the Churches done to check the danger-
ous secularism and the aggressive sacerdotalism
of modern times ? Has the Church abandoned
her apostolic and holy calling, and consented to
become a mere abettor of insatiable Imperialism ?

Mr. Frederic Harrison^ the Nestor of English
Comtism, uttered some scathing words about the
Churches praying for the triumph of British arms
in South Africa. "A Church and a creed which
could chant such a requiem as this over the grave
of the nineteenth century need trouble them no
more. It was left henceforth to faith in humanity
to do what it could to curb the passions of the
strong who were thirsting to crush the weak, to
preach what was the true glory of civilised man,
the Gospel of Peace, which the apostate preachers
of Christ had turned into a byword and had made
a war cry.*' We do not share this conclusion
entirely,, yet it may awaken us to a truer sense of
our national danger and ecclesiastical peril, and
stir us to a clearer apprehension of our civic, re-
ligious, and imperial responsibilities and duties.

I cannot withhold another word in this con-
nection. The echo of the war-drum has scarcely
faded from our ears, and there is nothing so un-

34 The Eeligioijs Ceisis.

civilising as war, especially when conducted
between two so-called Christian nations. If people
really perceived the moral effects of war, the
clamour for blood-shedding hostilities would for
■ever cease. Every Empire that has been built up
by the sword has gone down in blood. Not only
so ; every battle is a step towards moral and social
degeneration. It is doubtful whether permanent
good has ever accrued to any country as the
result of war. Since the wars with Austria and
France, Germany has declined in social stamina
and moral principle. Since 1870 Rationalism
has found a hot-bed in Grermany, and has para-
lysed the Protestant Church and unevangelised
the national theology. The same thing has
been more or less true in England since the
Crimean War. The deleterious effects of war are
generally more apparent in the conquering than in
the conquered people. And whether we eventually
lose or gain our material object in our South
African conflict with the Dutch, the consequences
will be corrupting to the Cabinet and debasing to
the people. It makes rulers ambitious, insincere,
insensitive to human suffering, and eager for per-
sonal and imperial aggrandisement at any cost. It
makes the rabble bloodthirsty, inhuman, until they
shout and t<)ss their caps in the air at the news of

The Eeligiotjs Crisis. 35

each diabolical and wholesale slaughter. Perhaps
the saddest phase of our recent war was the fact
that the Christian Churches in England never
uttered a protesting voice against the terrible
human holocaust. Our religious civilisation may
still be expressed in the cruel satire of Swift, " We
have just enough religion to make us hate, but
not enough to make us love, one another."

2. There are Significant Signs for Optimism.

(1) May we not discover such signs amid the clash
of jpolitical and international agitations ? The
Rescript of the Czar of Russia, asking the nations
to assemble in conference to discuss the possibility
of an arrest of the armaments which crush every
civilized State, is one of the most significant and
hopeful events in modern history. Although the
immediate results of the Hague Conference may
appear null and void of practical benefit, yet the
fact of such an international conclave must leave
some lasting moral eft'ect'upon the whole civilised
world. It is to be regretted that England did not
evince a greater enthusiasm in the objects of the.
Czar's humane and Christian proposal. It is also
noteworthy that England has not been ready to
accept arbitration in practice, which her ambas-
sador so strenuously advocated at the Hague.

36 The Eeligious Crisis.

Still I hold that the Peace Conference was not in
vain. Our hope for immediate international peace
may be dashed to the ground, and the nations may
continue to increase their armaments, but in the
innermost soul of every civilised State there is an
intense longing for peace. If the Jingo voice
could be hushed, we should hear the voice of the
enlightened conscience, which is the voice of God,
calling for peace. Oh that the nations would
speedily rip into shreds their battle-flags, and join
in holy vow of goodwill under the banner of an
eternal and Divine truce !

(2) Further^ there is a prophecy of encouragement
in the truer adjustment of the individual to society.
The Progressive Party in England has consistently
maintained that ^^a people among whom there
is no habit of spontaneous action for a collective
interest — who look habitually to their Government
to command or prompt them in all matters of
joint concern, who expect to have everything done
for them, except what can be made an affair of
mere habit and routine — have their faculties only
half developed ; their education is defective in one
of its most important branches."^ Nothing is
more remarkable in the modern history of Eng-

• J. S. Mill, Princijples of Political Economy, Bk. V., chap,
xi., sect. 6.

The Eeligiotjs Crisis. 37

land than the growing power of the democracy.
The people are learning to unite for defensive and
offensive operations against imperious and auto-
cratic laws. They are combining for the pro-
tection of their children^ their homes, their social
and civic rights and privileges. This involves two
complementary facts. First, the institution of
the various Trade Unions have disclosed the
unhealthy conditions under which multitudes
labour and the galling disabilities which cramp
their minds and enslave their lives. Before the
crushed and over-worked multitudes united to
utter their distresses in crowded garret and
poisonous factory, they were unheeded by the
capitalist and ruling classes. Collectivism may
be pressed to a demoralising extreme, but on the
whole it is a healthy reaction against the selfish
individualism of the past. Second, the altruistic
principle has strengthened with the development
of society. This is manifest in the kindlier
sentiments toward the ignorant and distressed.
These gentler feelings " have found a vehicle for
expression in that body of public opinion which,
moving slowly in the past, but more quickly in our
own time, has brought about the gradual political
emancipation of the individual from the rule of
the privileged classes." Men are realising that

38. The Eeligious Crisis.

they are neither isolated units, independently
struggling for existence against the tyranny of
their fellows, nor worthless factors, without
identity, tossed to and fro in the}[agitated mass
of humanity. Men are individuals with personal
responsibilities, they are also members of society
with collective rights. The more men truly
respect themselves the more they will respect
their fellows. The good of the individual is
bound up in the good of the community, and the
community can only advance by recognising the
claims of the individual. Altruism has been a chief
factor in the evolution of society, and to the
Christian expression of this factor do we look for
the development of the individual and the
regeneration of the race.

(3) Again, may we not discover hopeful indications
in the retreat of advanced Biblical criticism ? The
severe testing of the supernatural Book and the
violent attack upon the Divinity of Christ, have
shaken the faith of some and driven others into
rationalism and agnosticism. But the result will
be the firmer establishment of Christianity and
the devouter faith of the disciples of Christ. Dr.
John Watson puts it thus : " For a while the
Gospel has gone into exile and ceased to have its
ancient power. It is coming back again to the

The Eeligious Crisis. 39

throne^ and the day of its tribulation will not have
been lost when we welcome before we die, and our
children after us, a still more generous and more
convincing Gospel. It will have thrown off in
adversity many false friends, in the shape of
prejudice and bigotry, which did the Gospel
injury in the days of its prosperity. It will have
gained a wider vision and a more gracious charity
in those days of foreign travel. When the Gospel
once more reigns from the pulpit it will be less
scholastic on doctrine and more evangelistic in
spirit. It will be enshrined in a more beautiful
worship and will have at its service a more varied
culture. It will be free from certain offences and
limitations which once hindered its appeal; it
will declare a more gracious God, a more human
Christ, a more hopeful message. There is no man
who ought not to pray and hope for its new
advent, since it will mean the re-birth of faith."

It is a significant fact that, with the growth
of linguistic knowledge, the discovery of writings
dating from the first centuries, and the highly
developed state of textual criticism, the Protestant
form of Christianity has been greatly confirmed.
The Eevised Version, which is as faithful a
representation of the original as we are likely to
get, does not lend any new support to a single

40 The Religious Crisis.

Roman or Anglo-Catholic claim. The profound
investigations into the genius of the 'New Testa-
ment by British^ American, and Continental
theologians, have only emphasized more clearly
the true catholicity of the Gospel, and the tenta-
tive and optional character of many ecclesiastical
rites. The discovery, too, of such a writing as The
Teaching of the Apostles has further corroborated
the general principles upon which Protestantism is
based. This ancient document, written probably
in the early part of the second century, was
published in 1883, and has important bearings
upon the constitution of the early Church. It
shows that the Synagogue system, rather than the
Temple service, was followed in the establish-
ment of the Christian Church. It recognises but
two orders in the ministry — bishops and deacons.
Its great antiquity is proved by the fact that
it does not distinguish between the Agape and
the Eucharist. In the Apostolic Church the
Eucharist was simply the concluding act of
worship at the sacred meal in which the Christians
joined at the close of the day. Thus origmally
the social meal [KocvcovLa, ^^ communion "] and
the ceremonial act [evx^pt'O-rof;, "thankful-
ness "] were conjoined. They were separated
about the time of Trajan's cruelties. Both

The Religious Crisis. 41

elements survived the separation, but after about
a century the Agape ceased to be observed. The
Eucharist was continued^ but it became more
and more sacerdotal. In its extremest form we
see it to-day in the sacrifice of the Mass. But
The Teaching of the Apostles and all writings of a
similar date prove the non-sacerdotal character of
primitive Christianity. Protestantism hails with
satisfaction all advanced study of Biblical and
Patristic literature. All the evidence goes to
show, if we may so express ourselves, that the
New Testament and primitive Church was
Protestant rather than Roman Catholic, and
Presbyterian rather than Episcopal.

(4) Once more, it is satisfactory to find that
Protestantism is in complete harmony with ex-
perimental science. The teaching of the pre-
Reformation Church was based too exclusively
upon the a priori methods of Aristotle, and the
Scholasticism of the Middle Ages was too much
an attempt to reduce theology to a mere logical
system. In the Church of Rome there was a fear
of independent investigation, lest the facts of
nature should disturb the dogmas of the Church.
The religious ajid ceremonial teaching of Roman
Catholicism was founded upon tradition and super-
stition to a large extent. This facfc explains the

42 The Eeligious Crisis.

opposition of that Church to scientific research.
In 1633 Galileo appeared before an assembly of
cardinals at Eome. He was charged with heresy
because he taught that the earth moved round the
sun. He was permitted to speak in his own
defence. He began to demonstrate the truth of
the Copernican theory of astronomy. His ac-
cusers were ignorant of science and could not
understand his reasoning. At length they broke
in upon him with loud cries, repeating over and
over again the passage of Scripture which says
that Joshua commanded the sun and moon to
stand still and they obeyed him. Columbus and
Descartes were bombarded with texts of Scripture
and hindered in many ways by the bigotry and
superstition of the Church. But Luther broke
loose from these traditional chains, and started
the Eeformed Church upon a line of thought
which should find in science not an enemy, but
the friend of religion. Luther experienced, and
he taught others to experience, salvation by faith,
resulting in peace with God. The Church thus
believing in the experimental method in religion,
could not consistently deny that method to
science. That Protestantism encourages the
most thorough study of physical phenomena
let Bacon, Newton^ Herschell, Agassiz, Faraday,

The Eeligioijs Ceisis. 43

and Bois-Eajmond testify. Bishop Butler pro-
duced the first profound work on " The Analogy
of Eeligion^ Natural and Eevealed, to the Con-
stitution and Course of Nature.'^ His object
was to show that presumptively Nature and
Scripture have the same source, for similar
difficulties and incitements characterise both.
We cannot endorse the spirit and method of
argument which at different times have been
manifested by theologians and scientists. But
theologians are recognising more and more
the value of science as an aid to faith^ and
scientists are according more deference and value
to religion. This statement is true of the Pro-
testant religion; it is scarcely true of Eoman
Catholicism. During this year (1900) the
Cardinal at Westminster excommimicated the
foremost Eoman Catholic scientist, St. George
Mivart, because his evolutionary theories were
supposed to controvert the dogmas of the Eomish
Church. Protestantism discovers no necessary
antagonism between religion and science, but
regards both as organic growths expressive of an
immanent Will, an omnipresent Spirit. W^ith an
explanation of terms Luther or Wesley might
have used the language of Huxley : " The man of
science has learned to believe in justification not

44 The Eeligious Crisis.

by faith but by verification."^ But does not faith
itself bring verification? "Faith is the assur-
ance [uTToo-rao-t?, " the giving substance or reality
to"] of things hoped for, the proving [eXeyx^o^,
^^ the test or verification "] of things not seen."
Revelation and Nature are both scientific ; one is
the science of the invisible, and the other of the
visible. They are equally founded upon the
ultimate Reality of things, and must consequently
be fundamentally harmonious.

8. There is an Alliance between Protes-
tantism AND Prosperity.

Our fellow-countrymen should know that there is
a way through Canterbury direct to Rome, and Eng-
land will lose power and prestige as her religion be-
comes Romanised. It has been shown from indis-
putable data that there is " one uniform connection
between Romish ascendency and national dis-
aster, between Romish discountenance and national
renown." The nations of old have successively
flourished and faded. Babylon and Carthage,
Macedon and Persia, Greece and Rome, all in
their turn have yielded to the law of decline. Is
it of necessity uniform? Must England shrivel
into inanition while "Westward the course

* Lay Sermons, p. 22.

The Eeligious Crisis. 45

of Empire takes its way " ? Both the patriot's im-
pulse and the seer's inspiration prompt the unhes-
itating " No." Voltaire asked : " Why has
England so long and so successfully maintained
her free institutions ? " Not " because England
is still German," as Sir James Stephen said,
though that may be a very substantial ethnologi-
cal and political reason, but because England is
still Protestant, with a glad Gospel, an unsealed,
entire, wide-open Bible. Let England preserve
the sanctity of her altars and keep her religious
fidelity, and she will maintain her position, and
there need be no bounds to the sacred magnificence
of her prosperity. For nations as for individuals
that which is right is safe. A godless expediency
or an unworthy compromise are certain channels
to national decline. The Church and the State
alike must abhor that debasing maxim of a
corrupt creed, that it is lawful "to do e\dl that
good may come."

" Do ill that good may come," so Satan spake ;

Woe to the land deluded by that lie ;
Woe to its rulers, for whose evil sake

The curse of God may now be hovenng nigh.
Up, England, and avert it ! boldly break

The spells of sorceress Rome, and cast away
Godless expedience. Say, is it wise,

Or right, or safe, for some chance gains to-day,

46 The Religious Crisis.

To dare tlie vengeance from to-morrow's skies ?

Be wiser thou, dear land, my native home ;

Do always good — do good that good may come.
The path of duty plain before thee lies ;

Break, break the spells of the enchantress, Home.

II.
CONCEPTION OF THE CHURCH.

CONCEPTION OF THE CHURCH.

The word "Church" has its own interesting
history. A few writers derive the word from the
Anglo-Saxon ^' circ/' which was the name given
to the stone circles used for Druidical temples,
and of which the old English word " kirk " is an
exact equivalent. Most authorities, however,
trace the term back to a Greek origin. In that
language there are two words, which have distinct
meanings, but which, in their derivatives, are
sometimes used interchangeably. These words are
eKKK'qa-ia and KvpiaKov; the former meaning the
called out or the elected, the latter, the Lord's House ;
the one referring primarily to the assembly, the
other to the place of assembly. The fact seems to
be that the Eomance languages derive their word
for " Church " from eKKKriala ; thus we have eglise
in French, eglwys, eglos, and egglish in Celtic.
The Teutonic and Scandinavian languages derive
their word for " Church " from Kvpia/cov ; thus we
have hirche in German, Icirh in Scottish. Both of

4.

50 Conception of the Church.

these words had their derivatives in early Britain.
It is very interesting to mark how this G-reek
word " Church " came to our shores long before a
knowledge of the Greek language. " The explana-
tion is curious. While Angles, Saxons, and
other tribes of the Teutonic stock were almost
universally converted through contact with the
Latin Church in the Western provinces of the
Eoman Empire, or by its missionaries, some Goths
on the lower Danube had been brought at an
earlier date to the knowledge of Christ by Greek
missionaries from Constantinople; and this
KvpiaKov, or ^ Church,' did, with certain other words
pass over from the Greek to the Gothic tongue ;
these Goths, the first converted and the first, there-
fore, with a Christian vocabulary, lending the word
in their turn to the other German tribes, and
to our Anglo-Saxon forefathers among the rest ;
and by this circuit it has come round from
Constantinople to us.""^ Thus this Christian word
came to us while England was still heathen, and
thus it preceded the missionaries of the Cross.

I.— The Jewish Synagogue and the Christian
Ecclesia.

The use of the word ^^ Church '' in the New
* Trench, Study of Wordi^ pp. 134-5.

Conception op the Church. 51

Testament is connected with the Hebrew of the
Old Testament and with the Grreek of the
Septuagint. " It was employed by Jews speaking
the Greek language, and its meaning on their Kps
was coloured by Hebrew ideas. It has come from
a Greek source, through a Jewish channel.''
There are two special terms in the Old Testament
for the people of God ; both mean an assembly, but
the one means an assembly in general, and the-
other an assembly for Divine worship."^ The Sep-
tuagint translates one term by o-vvaycayrj, and
the other most frequently by eKKKriala. The
fundamental idea in both cases is that the
congregation is called together by God Himself.
In the New Testament we discover a broad
distinction between avva^yw^rj and iKKXt^a-La.
The former designates the people of Israel in
distinction from all other nations ; the latter*
designates the Christian community in the midst
of the Jewish people. In other words, generally
speaking, wherever the word " synagogue " occurs-
the reference is to the Israelitish community, and'
wherever the word " Church " occurs the reference
is to the followers of Christ. It is interesting to

* The Hebrew words are bnf7, lahaly and TTXS ^ 'edhah.
Vide Bannerman, Scripture Doctrine of the Church, pp. 89-96,
also Hort, Christian Ecclesia, pp. 4-7.

52 Conception op the Church.

add that the word *^ Church " was not the first
rendering of eKKkriala in the English New-
Testament. The Greek word was invariably
translated " congregation " in the New Testament
of Henry VIII.'s time. The Genevan revisers in
1557 substituted "Church" for "congregation"
in most passages ; but the latter term did not quite
disappear with this version. It was retained in
the celebrated text, Matt. xvi. 18, in the Bishops'
Bible, 1568, but in this case it was supplanted by
"Church" in the version of 1611 — the so-called
Authorised Version.

The question has sometimes been discussed
whether Christ contemplated a new religious
order or Church, in distinction from the old or
Jewish Church. It is manifest that there was a
Church before the advent of Christ, and there is
no intimation that the Jewish ecclesiastical system
was necessarily and entirely annulled by the
introduction of Christianity. Christ came not to
destroy, but to fulfil. Probably, therefore. He
contemplated building His Society on ground
already permeated with religion. Our Lord Him-
self complied with certain Jewish usages, and
frequently resorted to the synagogues to teach
the people. There is a sense in which the
" Kingdom of God " was in the world before the

Conception of the Chubch. 53

Incarnation. In every dispensation the Kingdom
of God must mean the beheving heart, which, as
good ground, receives the seed of truth and
righteousness. " Behold, the Kingdom of God is
within you." Yet it is evident that Christ did
found a new Society, proclaim a new Gospel, and
inaugurate a Church upon new principles. In a
very broad sense God has only one field : ^^ the
field is the world." Those in whose hearts the
good seed finds a congenial home, and those in
whose hearts the seed does not come to fruitful-
ness, and those in whom it is mixed with weeds,
are represented in the Parables as standing upon
the same field. But there is no hint of any such
connection between them as membership in one
Church would imply. Those whose hearts are
represented by the " good ground " constitute the
Kingdom of God in a special sense ; they are the
^^ Children of the Kingdom." In the Gospel
Kingdom the Twelve disciples constituted a little
body by themselves. Their devotion to Christ
stood in boldest contrast to the indifference of the
rest of the Jewish nation ; they were the nucleus
of the one true Catholic and Apostolic Church, of
which all who accept Christ as Saviour and Lord
are members.

(a) Some Points of Likeness,

54 Conception of the Church.

1. The Jewish Congregation was not a
Fortuitous Gathering.

The Hebrew Mhdl was a meeting for religious
purposes. It was an assemblage of individuals
bound together by the ties of kinship and religious
affinity. It was a community kept together by
common duties, common rights, and common
privileges, for the purpose of securing a common
good. In a word, it was a Commonwealth, The
members were banded together by the ties of a
common citizenship. Thus it was a type of the
New Testament Church, which is a great family-
circle, a Brotherhood, a religious Commonwealth.
The claim of priestly supremacy is, therefore,
foreign to the New Testament. All believers
are equal, having equal rights, privileges, and
opportunities, and all submit to one Head. ^^ One
is your Master, and all ye are brethren," com-
rades in trial, and partners in triumph. This
fact of a spiritual Commonwealth has been sadly
overlooked in the history of the Church. No
impartial person can read the annals of Chris-
tendom without a sense of revulsion at the per-
secution of Christians by Christians. The cruel-
ties inflicted by Eoman Catholics upon those of
different faiths are too horrible to be repeated
in the pages of modem history. But the Vatican

Conception op the Chttrch. 55

will renew its policy of tyranny wherever it
gains ascendency. The hands of Protestants are
not altogether clean in this matter. The Pres-
byterian Parliament of England became more
violent for Conformity than the Court of
High Commission which it had destroyed. The
imposition of the Solemn League and Covenant
upon all the beneficed clergy was a most
intolerant violation of liberty and conscience.
Perhaps the most egregious infringement of
the Christian doctrine of Brotherhood is the
arrogant insolence of High Anglicans towards
Dissenters.

2. The Jewish Congregation was a Theo-
cracy.

The Hebrew Church, as well as nation, was
under the government of God. The Old Tes-
tament assembly was emphatically an ecclesi-
astical or religious community, under the im-
mediate sovereignty of God. The religious
element was the centre of attraction and the
principle of cohesion. The whole circumference
of Jewish institutions had its centre in the temple
service. The predominant idea was obedience to
Divine laws, which were supposed to be given
directly by Jehovah. New enactments were

56 Conception op the Church.

enforced upon the congregation as the result of
fresh communications from Grod. His presence
was among the people, and His glorj appeared in
the temple. They were taught to look upon the
Eternal as their Law-giver, Protector, and King.
*^ The Lord is our defence, and the Holy One of
Israel is our King." So the Church of the New
Testament is emphatically theocratic. It has
been somewhat paradoxically described as "the
human kingdom of God." He is the only authori-
tative Euler, and He speaks directly to His
people, through His Word and by His Spirit. The
New Testament Church is above all things spirit-
ual; it does not trace its origin to any human
power, and its chief regulative principle is not
derived from any earthly tribunal. It owes its
origin to Grod manifest in the flesh, and it yields
supreme obedience only to the " Strong Son of
Godj immortal Love." This is a truth too often
ignored. The Church is not a mere human insti-
tution which men may observe or despise at will.
It is rather a Divine institution, whose doctrine,
discipline, and Sacraments are binding upon all
men. Much of the modern confusion in ecclesi-
astical matters arises from a false conception of
the Church. It is not a despotism, nor an
oligarchy, nor a plutocracy, nor a hierarchy, but a

Conception op the Church. 57

Divine Monarchy, a Theocracy, " a kingdom which
cannot be moved."

(h) Some Points of Unlikeness,

1. The New Testament Church is is^ot so
Identified with the Nation.

There was a closer relation between political
and ecclesiastical affairs among the Jews than is
suggested by any passages respecting the New
Testament Church and the Empire. The New
Testament knows nothing about a State religion
or an Established Church, and there is not a word
about the "Divine right" of kings or priests.
This theory, revived in modern history, may be
traced to the Old Testament Scriptures, where
kings are called the "Lord's anointed." Tliis
idea took form when the Jews changed the
theocracy into a human monarchy. The new
order of kings were God's vicars on earthy
to execute by civil enactments His Divine pur-
poses. But the story of their failure occupies a
large part of the Old Testament. It is a fact
worth observing that neither Christ nor the
Apostles ever intimate that kings reign by Divine
right and independently of the people's will. The
Church initiated by Christ was purely a spiritual
community, having complete autonomy in matters

68 Conception of the Church.

of doctrine and discipline. Christ taught His
followers to pay all legitimate respect and
obedience to the recognised civic and political
authorities, but there was to be no compromise
of conscience or sacrifice of religious freedom.
*^ Eender unto Csesar the things which are Caesar's,
and unto God the things that are God's."

2. The New Testament Church Eecognises a
Truer Religious Liberty.

The Jewish law may be comprehended under
three classes : " Moral laws, or those which arise
from the immutable relations existing between
God and man. Civil laws, or those enacted for the
government of civil society, adapted especially to
the Jewish theocracy. Ceremonial laws. — These
were of two kinds : first, those which were intended
to keep the nation separate from other nations ;
and second, those which were intended to pre-
figure events which were to occur under the second
or new dispensation." Every member of the
Hebrew congregation was expected— indeed, com-
pelled, to comply with these regulations. No
Israelite was at liberty to choose his own method
of worship or to formulate his own religious creed.
No company of Jews could unite to establish
another order of temple service without suffering

Conception op the Chuuch. 59

the loss of national privileges and covenanted
mercies. Eeligion to the Hebrew was unquestion-
ing conformity to established ritual and creed.
Religion to the Christian is voluntary surrender
to Christ. This is implied in the term eKKXTja-la,
the term employed by Christ to denote His
company of believing people. In its technical
Greek usage eKKk7]ala signified the assembly of free
citizens. Slaves, foreigners, and criminals could
form no part of such an assembly. So the Chris-
tian Church is a congregation of free men. The
call of the Gospel is to all men, but only those
who willingly submit to the yoke of Christ become
members in His Church. Membership in the New
Testament Church does not depend upon compli-
ance with certain stereotyped formulas or sub-
scription to certain theological dogmas. There is
only one essential condition : ^' Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

These points of likeness and unlikeness between
the Jewish Church and the Christian Ecclesia will
enable us to pass easily from the Old Testament
to the New. We shall find that the Christian
Church is to some extent the outgrowth of
Hebrew ecclesiasticism. The principle of right-
eousness was taught under the Old Covenant ; the
plan of worship was first there revealed. From

60 CoNCEPTioiir OF THE Chukch.

the bosom of the Jewish Church came the Founder
of the Christian Church. The first disciples of
Christ received their religious education, spirit,
and hope in the synagogues of the Jews. Noi^
withstanding these connections there remain
ineffaceable contrasts. The Hebrew Church was
founded on one family, and continued in it to the
end ; the Christian Church is founded on personal
relations with Christy and is open to every
creature. The former had an elaborate system of
sacrifices ; the latter has but one Sacrifice, offered
once for all. The qualification for admission to
the Jewish Church was Jewish birth ; the qualifi-
cation for admission to the Christian Church is
new-birth. "Except a man be born anew
{dvcoO 6v=' irom. above '), he cannot see the King-
dom of God."

II.- The Idea and Use of the Word *' Church »
in the New Testament.

1. The Connotation of the Term when it

CAME into the NeW TeSTAMENT.

The word KvpiaKov — that which belongs to a
lord, had a considerable history before it passed
into Christian terminology. In classic Greek it
was often employed to denote State or fiscal

Conception op the Church. 61

property, and was nearly synonymous with
TO fiaa-ikiKov — royal or hingly. It always meant
a possession of a tangible character owned by a
superior person. When the word was adopted by
Christian writers it retained its original sense,
only heightened. Sacred things, times, and places
were the /cvpcaKOL — possessions of the Lord Christ,
The word KvptaKov (Kvpcov oIkos:) means liter-
ally the house of the Lord. But, since the early
Church did not always possess a house or building,
it is evident this was not the chief word used by
the New Testament writers to denote the company
of believers. The more frequent word, as we
have already seen, was eKKKr^aia, which played a
conspicuous part in Greek life before the Christian
era. It was the common term for the assembly of
selected persons in the public affairs of a free
State ; the body of free citizens summoned
together by a herald {fcrjpv^). The persons con-
stituting these assemblies would therefore be the
ehct {€KK\r)Tot — the called). When this term was
adopted by Christ and the Apostles it retained its
root meaning. Believers in Christ were the elect, a
company of free agents, authoritatively summoned
from amongst the mass of sin-bound slaves and
*^ aliens from the commonwealth of Israel."
These constitute the spiritual Israel, the commu-

62 Conception of the Church.

nit J of Christ's people, united in work and
worship as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.
^^But ye are an elect (i/ckeKTov) race, a royal
priesthood^ a holy nation, a people for God's own
possession."

2. The Woed "Kingdom" in relation to
THE Church.

(1) The term ^'Kingdom'' sometimes means the
theocratic nation — the Messiah's earthly reign, — The
word is Jewish in its connections and suggestions.
To the Hebrews it signified the reign of God
among men through the Messiah-King, and the
triumph of the chosen people over all nations of
the earth. At the time of Christ's advent the
Jewish people were still supported by this
national hope. The non-realisation of this idea
was one of the chief grounds of the conflict
between our Lord and the Jews. Compare the
plaintive language of the disciples on the road to
Emmaus: "We hoped that it was He which
should redeem Israel," with their interrogation on
the day of Ascension : " Lord, dost Thou at
this time restore the Kingdom to Israel ? " Here
the term "Kingdom" is used according to the
politico-theocratic idea of the national Messiah

Conception op the Church. 63

and is very comprehensive. Undoubtedly the
Messiah's Kingdom bears an intimate relation to
the entire range of human history, and no phase
of life is outside that Kingdom taken in its
broadest theocratic sense.

(2) The term " Kingdom of Heaven " usually
means the '^visible Church. ''^ — We can always tell
where the visible, organised Church exists. Its
numbers may be counted, its members named, its
work tabulated, and its history written. The
visible Church is composed of all who outwardly
and nominally adhere to the Christian profession.
These are good and bad, tares and wheat, and
they cannot be thoroughly separated until the
harvest, which is the end of the world. The
visible Church is organised and governed by repre-
sentative men, who seek the guidance and power
of ^^ the Head, even Christ." It is most interest-
ing and important to notice that the authority
delegated to Peter and other disciples had respect
to the visible Church. " I will give unto thee the
keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.'' Our interpreta-
tion of this passage may be expressed in the
paraphrase : ^' I give unto thee the power of
admitting to, or excluding from, the membership
of that Society on earth whose members profess
faith in Christ." This is a power which every

64 Conception of the Church.

branch of the Christian Church claims and
exercises.

(3) The term '^Kingdom of God*' most frequently
means the '^ invisible Church" — The invisible
Church consists of all those who inwardly and
truly are the people of God. We cannot localise
this Church, count its numbers, schedule its work,
or write its history. The Kingdom of God was
among men before the Incarnation. The Baptist
heralded the new visible Church : " Eepent ye,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Christ
proclaimed the same fact : " Eepent, for the
Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Our Lord unques-
tionably referred to the invisible Church in the
passage : " The Kingdom of God cometh not with
observation ; neither shall men say, Lo, here ! or
there ! for lo, the Kingdom of God is within you."
The terms " Kingdom of Heaven " and " Kingdom
of God " are not therefore synonymous ; some may
be found in the former who are not in the latter.
The Reformers made the theological distinction
between the visible and the invisible Church.
Their object was not to lessen the importance of
the visible or deny the reality of the invisible, but
to enhance the necessity, unity, and continuity of
both through their one constructive factor — the
will of God. They are complementary terms.

Conception of the Church. 65

each necessary to the other, and both to the
complete expression of so rich and complex an
idea as the Church of Christ."^

(4) The term ^'Kingdom" occasionally refers to
the triumphant state of the people of God, — Some-
times the word " heaven " is employed to indicate
the invisible abode of God. We read that Christ
"descended out of heaven." We speak of the
faithful dead as departed to heaven. This beatific
state is the consummation of the invisible Church,
the eternal condition of the Kingdom of God.
*' The seventh angel sounded, and there followed
great voices in heaven, and they said, The King-
dom of the world is become [the Kingdom] of our
Lord, and of His Christ."

(5) The distinction of the " Kingdom " and the
" C/i^rc/i."— Prof . Findlay says, " The Church is
related to the Kingdom as the electorate of our
country to the British Empire.^f According to
the view advanced above, this statement of
Prof. Findlay is exegetically inaccurate. "The
Church " is a more comprehensive term than
either the " Kingdom of Heaven " or the " King-
dom of God," inasmuch as it includes both the

* For the distinctions made in these sections vide Edgar,
The Genius of Protestantism, pp. 117, 118.

t The Church of Christ, p. 15.

6

66 Conception op the Church.

visible and invisible Churcli. The Church of
Christ has two sides, material and formal. In its
material and constructive aspect the Church is
synonymous with the " Kingdom of Heaven '' ;
in its formal and ideal aspect it is synonymous
with the "Kingdom of God." The invisible
•Church is within the visible, but not commensur-
able with it; so the visible Church is within the
State, but not commensurable with it. It would
be as unreasonable to call the inhabitants of a
country an army, because they heard the call to
arms, as to call all who hear but do not obey the
Gospel, the Church. The army consists of those
who actually enrol themselves as soldiers ; and the
Church consists of those who actually repent and
believe, in obedience to the call of the Gospel.
The Church is a company of brothers and par-
takers "in the tribulation and kingdom and
patience which are in Jesus."

3. The Two Chief Senses in which the
Teem is Employed.

(1) To denote the whole community of believers
throughout the world — the Universal Church. — In
this sense the word is used hj our Lord in the
memorable passage : " I wiU build my Church "

CoNCEPTio]sr OF THE Chuijch. 67

(Matt. xvi. 18) ; by St. Paul : "He is the Head of
the Body, the Church " (Col. i. 18) ; in the Epistle
to the Hebrews : " To the general assembly and
Church of the firstborn " (xii. 23). In the Epistle
to the Ephesians, eKKXrjcrLa denotes exclusively
the entire Church. The members of the Catholic
Church have an inward and real unity^ but from
manifold circumstances this unity may not be able
to find visible expression. " They may be widely
scattered, unseen, and unknown in great part to
each other, as the hidden seven thousand in Israel
were to Elijah. But they can never cease to be an
iKKXrjala, truly one in Christ their Lord, and seen
to be so in the eyes of Grod, His Father and their
Father, His God and their God." It is evident
that no one branch of the visible Church can claim
to be the Church Catholic. Catholicity is not a
question of arithmetic, it cannot be settled by
numerical preponderance, or by vote of Synod or
Convocation. Unless a Church claims to contain
the whole of Christ's people, without exception, it
cannot claim to be Catholic. Hence the incon-
sistency of those who pray for " the good estate of
the Catholic Church," and at the same time refuse
the right hand of fellowship to tens of thousands
who are members of the Body of Christ. The
General Church {rj KaOdXiKr] eKKKrjaia) is broader

68 Conception of the Church.

than the section which calls itself "National," and
broader than the section which assumes the name
"CathoHc." The Church of Christ consists of
^'all that in every place call upon the name of
Jesus Christ our Lord."

(2) To denote a single and local congregation. — In
this sense the term is most frequently used in the
New Testament. It is sometimes the Church
of a town : " The Church of Grod which is at
Corinth " (2 Cor. i. 1) ; sometimes it is the Church
in a house : " The Church in thy house " (Philemon
2). When the congregations of a district or
country are referred to, the plural is used : " The
Churches of Macedonia" (2 Cor. viii. 1); "The
seven Churches which are in Asia" (Eev. i. 4).
The local Church is an epitome of the universal
Church, with an outward and visible unity, more
or less complete, according to circumstances.
Cremer says: "The application of the word
{iKKKrjcria) to the Church universal is primary,
and that to an individual Church secondary."
The noteworthy fact is that " although even in the
largest towns the Christian community is always
spoken of as one Church, the Christian community
in a province is never so called." Whenever,
therefore, in modern ecclesiastical terminology the
singular " Church " is employed to denote all the

Conception of the Church. 69

Christian congregations in any country^ it is solely
on the grounds of expediency, accommodation,
and public utility. The terms, " Church of Eng-
land," "Presbyterian Church of Scotland,"
"Methodist Episcopal Church of America," are
not in strict harmony with New Testament usage.
" From the very circumstances of the case there
could be no such thing as a ' National Church '
in the Apostolic period. National Churches, how-
ever justifiable and desirable in certain periods
of national life, are not Divine or Apostolic insti-
tutions." No ecclesiastical lineage, or mutual
association with other Christian communities, can
add one iota to the Scriptural basis, validity, and
authority of the local Church. Neither Episcopal
government nor connexional polity are essential
to the esse of a Church.

4. The Chief Metaphors setting forth the
Manifold Phases of the Church.

The New Testament conception of the Church
is set forth in a number of metaphors : (1) ^^ The
Flock of God." This intimates that the members
are living individuals. They need the protection
of a Shepherd and the strength of association.
So intimately united are the Flock and the

70 Conception of the Church.

Shepherd that to leave the former is to leave the
latter. (2) '' The Olive Tree,'' The metaphor of
a tree implies that the life is developed from
within. Stalagmites increase by the addition of
carbonate of lime on their outsides ; trees grow
and bear fruit by their own inherent vitality. Of
the Church-tree Christ is root and stem; to be
severed from Him means death. Compare the
instructive teaching respecting the ^'vine" in
John XV. (3) " The Bride " of Christ This shows
that the Church is the object of Christ's love,
affianced to Him for time and eternity. Any
wrong done to the Bride is an insult to the Bride-
groom. He protects, sustains, honours, and will
finally exalt His espoused Church to endless
felicity. (4) The ''Holy Temple,'' The idea is
that of many units bound together in mutually
helpful fellowship. Christ is Builder, Foundation,
and Corner-stone. The Temple is the home of the
King. " I will dwell among the children of Israel,
and will be their God." The governing character-
istic ot the Temple is purity. " For the Temple
of (rod is holy, which Temple ye are." (5) '' The
Body " of Christ, This metaphor shows that the
many organs and functions of the body contribute
to the general good. Christ is the Head, and
theiefore a vital part of the Body. The Head

Conception of the Church. 7J

cannot dispense with the lowest member of the
Body. The Head cannot say to the feet, " I have
no need of you." The members of the one
spiritual Body must move in obedience to the
Head, and in mutual edification and love. " Ye
are the Body of Christ, and severally members
thereof."^ These are the principal metaphors
employed to set forth the various aspects of the
Church in the New Testament. The difficulty of
stating in a sentence the New Testament concep-
tion of the Church will be obvious. From a local
society the Church develops into a universal
Brotherhood. "It is the totality of those who
have accepted the salvation which is in Christ,
and who are living in mutual love as children of
God. It is filled with the Holy Spirit, which is
the Spirit of Jesus, and it is this which is the
bond of union among its members." f The Church
is one because its Spirit is one.

5. The Conception op Chuech Membership-.

(1) The New Testament Church did not con-
template unattached Christians. — The Christian end

* Koi ue\77 Ik ixipovs. Luther expresses the essential mean-
ing : " Each one according to his part/' Cf . Meyer on 1 Cor„
xii. 27.

t Denney, Studies in Theology, pp. 186-7.

72 Conception of the Church.

cannot be reached ^^ except by the mutual action
and reaction, the reciprocal giving and receiving,
of all who are in fellowship with Christ." Such
fellowship was inculcated in Apostolic times.
Many of the primitive Christians' meetings were
not so much regular and formal acts of worship,
but rather improvised and spontaneous expres-
sions of spiritual life. Of this nature probably
were the meetings mentioned by Pliny in his
letter to Trajan : " The Christians affirmed that it
was their custom to meet on a stated day before
sunrise and sing a hymn to Christ as to a God."
These companies of believers, like the old prophets,
were under an afflatus of tlie Holy Spirit, and
were carried along ((pepo/jievoi) with rapturous
psalmody. ^^Let the word of Christ dwell in
you richly in all wisdom ; teaching and admonish-
ing one another with psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart
unto God." It is evident that the important
functions of " teaching " and " admonishing "
were laid upon each individual believer. Liter-
ally BtBdcr/covTef; koI vovOerovvre^i kavrov^ means
"teaching and reminding yourselves." It is this
mutual and informal, spontaneous and direct
fellowship, as contrasted with general and official,
stereotyped and dogmatic worship, which is essen-

Conception op the Church. 73

tial to the spiritual increase and edification of
believers^ and the preservation and extension of an
un corrupt Church. Upon this high ground of
ecclesiastical expediency and spiritual necessity
the New Testament justifies the duty and privilege
of Church-membership.

(2) Fellowship, or the Communion of Saints^ is a
sine qud non of spiritual growth, — We have no
sympathy with the Romish Confessional, but
there is a principle involved which has given
Romanism a history and a power unknown to any
other Church. That Rome has abused the Con-
fessional we must admit, but in avoiding the
errors of Romanism we must not ignore the truth
at the basis of that system. Probably the
Reformers were at fault in this respect. In the
sixteenth century there was such a reaction
against papal dominion that the good and the bad
in the Church of Rome were alike thrust aside.
The Romish Confessional provided a relief-channel
for the burdened soul. The Reformed Church of
England failed to provide a vent and refuge for
anxious spirits and affrighted consciences, and
thus ignored a vital element in human nature.
This omission in the organisation of the Episcopal
Church accounts in a large measure for the
religious indifference and ecclesiastical corruption

74 Conception of the Church.

which characterised England in the eighteenth
century. The Methodist Eevival, by re-establish-
ing the primitive type of fellowship, saved English
Christianity from sinking hopelessly into a lifeless
form. The Oxford Movement did much to revive
the languishing life of the Established Church by
introducing, in a modified form, the old lever, the
Confessional. The Tractarians recognised the
need for direct spiritual dealing with the souls of
men. Their method may be questionable, but
the principle is vital. Human spirits crave
for personal direction and help, and this is
found in the fellowship of the Christian
Church. The unity of the Church depends upon
the recognition of this truth, and in this sense
the Latin dogma is true — extra ecclesiam, nulla
salus,

(3) Ghurch-memhership is contingent upon certain
conditions. — Here it will be necessary to keep in
mind the distinction between the visible and the
invisible Church, a. Christ alone can ^x the
terms of admission into the fellowship of His
spiritual Body. These terms according to the
Gospels were brief and simple. Christ demanded
two things, first, belief in Himself as the Messiah,
and second, willingness to obey His command-
ments. " Come unto Me," and " Follow thou Me,"

Conception op the Chuech. 75

were the two expressions in which Christ summed
up the terms of discipleship. Whenever in the
heart and life of a candidate Christ found these
conditions, he was forthwith received into the
company of believers. These terms of disciple-
ship were embodied in the Apostolic words,
" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt
be saved." The principle involved in these words
was invariably acted upon by those who were
" faithful brethren in Christ." The terms of
salvation are synonymous with the terms of admis-
sion into the Body of Christ. Salvation is union
with Christ. Whatever is done for a man before
he accepts Christ, whatever is done in him at the
moment he believes on Christ, and whatever is
done through him after his regeneration, derives
all its virtue from his relation to Christ. To
remain in the fellowship of the true Catholic
Church is to abide in Christ. " Abide in Me, and
I in you."

yS. Terms of admission into the visible Church
are decided by the company of believers. Into the
invisible Church Christ admits only the faithful ;
into the visible Church, the unfaithful are some-
times admitted. Judas and Simon were formal
members of the Christian Society, after they ceased
to be members of Christ's spiritual Body. Hence

76 Conception op the Church.

membership in the visible Church is not synony-
mous with membership in the invisible Church,
and consequently the terms of membership are not
absolutely the same. In the one case the judge,
the company of believers, is fallible, and in the
other case, the Judge, Christ, is infallible. No
branch of the Christian Church attempts to add
new terms of admission into the spiritual Body of
Christ. But for prudential reasons all sections
of Christendom have rules and regulations, more
or less clearly defined, for admission into their
respective memberships. This authority, as we
have seen, was entrusted to the company of
believers by Christ in His words to Peter, " I
will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of
Heaven." At the same time no Church should
make compulsory the acceptance of any doctrine
or discipline, unless it is convinced that non-
acceptance would violate the teaching of Scrip-
ture or imperil the salvation of the soul. Except,
therefore, in very exclusive Churches, whose
narrowness amounts to the sin of bigotry, doctrinal
and disciplinary tests are not sharply defined and
dogmatically enforced. The general acceptance of
tne cardinal doctrines, and the general compliance
with the characteristic discipline of a Church (it
being understood that personal character har-

Conception op the Church. 77

monises with the profession of faith), should be
sufficient for formal membership.

III.— The Eyangelical Protestant (or Free
Church) View of the Church.

The day ought to have passed long ago for the
necessity of defending the ecclesiastical status of
Nonconformists. But they are still virulently
attacked by some who might be more consistently
employed in defending the validity of their own
branch of the Church of Christ. An Anglican
clergyman writes : ^^ The Catholic Church is the
home of the Holy Ghost. It is His only earthly
home. He does not make His home in any
Dissenting sect. Sometimes people quarrel with
the Church, and break away from her, and make
little sham churches of their own. We call these
people Dissenters, and their sham churches sects.
The Holy Ghost does not abide — does not dwell —
with them. He goes and visits them, perhaps, but
only as a stranger." "^ This language could only
be uttered by a Liliputian ecclesiarch, or an in-
corrigible bigot, or a purblind fanatic, or an
ethical conjurer, or a mental delinquent — a bap-
tized, confirmed, and ordained non compos mentis.

* Quoted in Walsh's Secret History of the Oxford Movement,
p. ilO.

78 Conception op the Chuech.

In opposition to the Romish sentiment just
quoted. Free Churchmen hold as an axiomatic
principle that religion does not exist for the
Church, but the Church exists for religion.
Eeligion is not synonymous with the Church ; the
former may exist independently of the latter.
Religion began with the creation of the human
race ; the Church began with organised society.
In this case the logic is valid : post hoc, ergo propter
hoc. Religion is the creative factor, the Church
is the created fact ; and the created is true in so
far as it corresponds with and exhibits the
creative. The work of the Church is to instruct
men in the truth and help them to reach the
rehgious ideal. The Church that most effectually
does this is the most ^alid, authoritative, and
Divine. The Nonconformist axiom here is this :
" The Churches exist by the religion, and for it ;
the religion does not exist because of the Churches,
or for them." ^

1. The Nonconformist Claim is Often Mis-
represented.

No Nonconformist communion assumes to be
the Church. There is but One Church. Christ

* Fairbaim, Catholicism : Roman and Anglican, pp. 32-40.

Conception of the Church. 79

is not divided, nor yet His " one flock/' which,
however, may be sheltered in a number and variety
of folds. Belief in the Catholic Church is com-
patible with belief in manifold local, provincial,
or national Churches, each having complete auto-
nomy in ecclesiastical government. The points
which divide Christendom into sects are all foreign
to the New Testament. Any claim based upon
tradition, or decrees of Councils, or patristic
literature, must not be accepted as Divinely
authoritative, or parallel with the exphcit teach-
ing of the New Testament. Nonconformity makes
no claim which is not justified by the ministry of
Christ and the writings of His Apostles. More-
over, it makes no claim for itself which it denies
to other bodies of Christians. It claims to be an
integral part of the universal Church, holding the
one Head, and seeking to subdue the rebellious
world to the law of Christ. All external phases of
the Church are questions of expediency. The
Church as a visible organism cannot fail to be
influenced and largely fashioned by its environ-
ment. The justification for particular forms of
Church life is to be found in the course of Chris-
tian history. Between every new development
and the preceding state of the Church there is a
natural transition link. " Each link in the series

80 Conception op the Church.

carries with it its own justification, if it is found
to be a natural and inevitable result of historical
circumstances, a modification of an institution or
a usage which was forced upon a community by
the needs of a particular time." "^

2. The Church is Not an End in Itself.

From the teaching in certain quarters it would
appear that Christ's chief purpose in coming into
the world was to establish an ecclesiastical institu-
tion, and that His only care through the subse-
quent centuries has been the perfecting of that
institution after a particular pattern. No teaching
is more delusive. The paramount fact to
remember is that Christ came to " seek and to save
that which was lost." Whatever iostitution He
inaugurated or sanctioned was intended only as a
means to that end. The Sacraments are not ends
in themselves; they are but channels through
which God blesses the believing heart. So the
Church. It is the organised agency through
which God will communicate His saving purpose
to men ; the ordained instrument for bringing in
the Kingdom of Eighteousness. And the aim of
the whole Church should be the aim of each branch

* Cf. Hatch, Growth of Church Institutions, pp. 5, 6.

Conception of the Church. 81

and each member of it. Now the end is much
more important than the means, andj our |Lord
sanctions any means that accomplishes the right
end. The Apostles^ until they were rebuked, were
inclined to be exclusive : " Master, we saw one
casting out devils in Thy name, and he foUoweth
not with us; and we forbade him, because he
followed not us." The disciples did not under-
stand, (1) that one might follow Christ though
not with a particular sect, (2) that one might work
miracles though separated from a particular
organisation. Ecclesiastics should be careful lest
by an excess of zeal for external unity they hinder
that equally Divine agency, outside their own
communion, which tends to the enlargement of
the Church and the advancement of truth. But
did our Lord approve of the Apostles' conduct?
He immediately rebuked their unChristian bigotry.
Jesus said : " Forbid him not, for there is no man
which shall do a miracle in My name that can
lightly speak evil of Me. For he that is not
against us is on our part." Let sacerdotalists
solemnly ponder these words. Our Lord approved,
not only the work, but the method] of this man :
(1) Because he was a believer in Christ ; what he
did was in Christ's name, not his own or that of a
religious sect; (2) because difference of visible

6

82 Conception of the Church.

communion is unimportant. The chief point is,
he " is on our part " ; he had his own reasons for
not joining the company of the disciples — reasons
which Christ deemed sufficient; (3) because he was
doing the same work as the Twelve — in the same
Name and quite as effectually — " casting out
devils." Here we see clearly that the means^ the
agency, the organisation, the institution, are all
points of minor import ; the end, the object, the
spirit, are all-important. If Christians meet in
the same end it matters nothing whether they
follow in the same way. This Scripture unmistak-
ably supports those who contend that the real and
final test of a valid Church is fruit. Apply any
other test and you ignore the very raison d'etre of
the Church. Alike of individual believers and
communities of Christians, ^^ By their fruits ye
shall know them."

3. Divisions are Inevitable and Beneficial.

Christianity is a life, and life manifests itself
in new forms. Every reformation, resulting in
division, has been the outworking of forces which
nothing could check. At first Luther had no
intention of inaugurating a new Church, but he
could not refrain from proclaiming a Gospel which

Conception of the Chijech. 85-

made him free. Soon the necessities of the posi-
tion forced him and his co-reformers to organise
the new Christian community growing up around
them. In this way the Protestant Churches of
Germany originated. The old Eomish Church
with tremendous ecclesiastical and political power,
rejected the doctrines of Luther, and persecuted
his followers. Other causes led to a great division,
of the Church in England. Henry YIII. flung
aside the authority of the Pope, and appointed
bishops who would support his schemes. When
Elizabeth came to the throne she removed all the
bishops, save one, who yielded to her views. This
violent imperial compulsion resulted in a great
separation from the historic Church of the West.
The Protestant Church of England, while claim-
ing a sort of lineal continuity with the older
Church, was nevertheless broken off from it by the -
arbitrary ruling of Henry and Elizabeth. The-
Protestant Episcopal Church became as intolerant
as the Eomish. By the Act of Uniformity a^
large number of beneficed pastors were compelled
to abandon their livings or take a solemn oath
which was repugnant to their consciences. To
their immortal honour, be it said, they were true
to themselves and to their God. This was the
origin of Nonconformist Churches in England.

84 Conception op the Church.

At the beginning of his work Wesley had no idea
of founding a new Church, and to the end of his
life he urged his followers to remain, if possible,
within the Anglican fold. But the converts of
the Wesleys owed nothing to the State Church,
and in that Church they failed to find the spiritual
food they needed. The Church of England was
not comprehensive enough to take the " societies,"
with their religious excrescences, into its commun-
ion. And the followers of Wesley, finding the
Established Church cold, and happy among them-
selves, started upon an independent career. This
was the origin of the Methodist Church. Every
one of these separations has been followed by
immense blessing, and no one can study history
without discovering the imprimatur of God upon
them all. The Lutheran revolt against papal
despotism has been of incalculable advantage to
Germany and the whole Continent. The Protes-
tant Reformation in England has been of immense
gain to the country and the whole world. The Non-
conformist revolt against Episcopal intolerance has
been of inestimable blessing to all nations of the
earth. The Methodist Revival has been the
mighty stimulus to all the Churches of the land,
and its influence has gone out to the ends of the
earth. The spiritual blessings attending these

Conception of the Church. 85

separate Churches prove that they are not
separated from Christ, "just as the spiritual life of
the Anglican Church proves that separation from
the historic Church of the West has not placed it
outside the Covenant of God." *

4. Organic Union, however Desirable, is
Not Essential.

Eomanists and Anglican Eitualists, in empha-
sizing the claims of visible order, draw an
unwarrantable inference respecting the visible
Church. They contend that the true idea of the
Church is one communion in outward embodiment
as well as in essential inward character. This is
truly ideal, but is it essential? Where is the
New Testament proof? Or, if proof be forth-
coming, which of the many visible Communions
can claim to be the one true embodiment of
Christ's Church ? It is certain that neither the
Roman Catholic nor the Episcopalian Churches
can claim New Testament authority or precedent
for their particular type of Church form and
government. Nor can any other Church make
this claim. The Primitive Church polity was

* Beet, Comm. on Eph., &c., p. 398. See the whole Disser-
tation.

86 Conception op the Chtjech.

flexible and necessarily incomplete ; it was to
shape itself with the developing needs of the
Living Organism. "The outward forms of the
Apostolic Churches are as unfit for present needs
as are the clothes of childhood to a full-grown
man." It is idle to deplore the existence
of "discrepant and competing organisations."
Before we can materially alter this state of
things we must change human nature. While
the world is so imperfect and while opinions are
so divergent, to attempt organic union would be
unwise or even disastrous. The manifold divisions
of the great army of God have been providentially
raised up and commissioned to take some special
part in the Christian conquest of the world.
"Different Churches embody different types of
Christian life ; and the types thus embodied are a
lesson and an enrichment to the whole. This
manifest gain reveals the hand of God even in
the divisions of the one Church of Christ. These
divisions, caused or made needful by man's imper-
fection and sin, are God's own mode of purifying
and perfecting His Church and thus leading it to
a higher unity."

The plea of Episcopalians that Nonconformists
should abandon their distinctive organisations and
join the Established Church of England fails in

Conception op the Church. 87

two points. (1) First, the Anglican Church is in
a state of schism; let her first heal her own
breaches before seeking the inclusion of Noncon-
formists. There are, at least, three distinct
parties in that Church — the High, the Broad, and
the Low. Which party are Nonconformists to
join ? If they join the High Church party they
must accept Apostolical succession and sacra-
mental efiicacy. If they join the Broad Church
party, they must abandon all definite theology
and all distinctions between faith and unbelief,
and between the Church and the world. If they
join the Low Church party they must reconcile
their Evangelical Calvinism or Arminianism, as
the case may be, with the Book of Common
Prayer, which is semi- Protestant and quasi-
Eomish. Let the Church of England present a
united front before she attempts to unite others.
(2) Second, if there must be union, the larger
should absorb the smaller. Nonconformity has a
much more widespread and vastly more numerous
Communion of Churches, and an immensely
greater number of adherents, than the Anglican
Church can muster in all its sections and corre-
latives. As a world-wide power, Nonconformity
is much more potent in its manifold operations
and in its civilising and evangelising enterprises.

88 Conception of the Church.

For the Anglican Church to absorb Nonconformity
— ^the lesser to assimilate the greater — would be a
portentous ecclesiastical anomaly.^

5. The Universal Presence of Christ.

This is the charter of Christian liberty ; the
benediction of Christ is not contingent upon any
institution, however ancient or sacred. Wherever
believing hearts join in sincere worship, there is
Christ. And He is as fully present with the few
who may meet outside the boimdary of the visible
Church as with the multitude worshipping in a
cathedral. The '^covenanted mercies" are not
dependent upon Church government, nor are they
communicated;through an exclusive ecclesiastical
agency. The promises of God are to individuals,
or communities who unite to do His will. " If
two of you shall agree on earth as touching any-
thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for
them of My Father which is in heaven." Why ?
Because they are members of a so-called historic
Church? Because they subscribe to certain
creeds, and submit to certain discipline ? Because
they acknowledge a three-fold order in the

* Vide Eigg, The Churchmanship of John Wesley, p. 116.

Conception op the Church. 89-

ministry, and credit the dogma of Apostolical
succession? The New Testament does not say
so, "For where two or three are gathered
together in My name, there am I in the midst of
them." St. Ignatius uttered the great truth in
the oft-quoted words : uhi Christus, ihi ecclesia.
I am aware that the expression of Ignatius has
been twisted by High Anglicans. In attempting
to interpret this Father we should remember this
canon : Ignatius leaned toward the Episcopal form
of Church government, but he was in no sense a
sacerdotalist. It may not be fair to separate the
words quoted from their context, but whether
regarded as an independent sentence, or a depen-
dent clause, or a concluding sequence, the case is
not materially changed. His reference in the
context to the Bishop must not be interpreted
in any mediseval sense ; no ritualistic notion
was present in the mind of Ignatius. What
he says about the Bishop in the congregation
may be said in the same manner and with equal
truth of any modern Presbyter in the Church.
The allusion has no sacerdotal significance; it
is a question of order and discipline only. On
the whole, we may fairly accept this summing
up : " The expression is an absolute statement,
entirely independent of the precise significance

90 Conception of the Church.

of the context. I take my stand beside St.
Ignatius. I declare that whatever be my taste,
my prejudice, my preference, my foregone con-
clusion— wherever Christ is, there is the Catholic
Church. Wherever and whenever Jesus Christ
blesses and prospers Christian organisations as
such. He is in the midst of them. He sanctions
them."^

He who founded the Church will sustain and
complete it. In the Cathedral of Florence are
two fine statues of the architects. Arnolfo, who
commenced the Church, is looking down as if
examining the foundations ; Brunelleschi, who
finished the structure, holds a plan of the cupola
on his knee, and is looking up at the completion
of his design. In the Christian Church there is
only one Architect, who is both " author and
finisher." He founded His Church upon the rock
of personal confession of faith in His Divine
nature and mission, " and the gates of Hades
shall not prevail against it." He is constructing
His temple in the consecrated hearts of believers,
not through any ofiicial priesthood, but through
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit : ^^ Ye are a
temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in

* Eev. Hugh Price Hughes, M.A., Methodist Times, Sept. 21,
1899.

Conception of the Church. 91

you." He will complete the spiritual structure in
the New Jerusalem, and His redeemed and sancti-
fied people shall behold Him upon His throne,
"and serve Him day and night in His temple,
and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell
among them."

in.
THE DOCTRINE OF ORDERS.

THE DOCTRINE OF ORDERS.

In all writings of a controversial nature it is im-
portant to bear in mind two things. First, in
attacking a system we do not attack persons. We
have the highest respect for many Eomanists and
Anglicans; their character is unblemished, their
learning profound, their friendship an education
and a blessing. But this personal appreciation
must not close our eyes to the evils of the religious
systems with which these estimable men are con-
nected. Nor do we for a moment deny them the
right to think for themselves ; a liberty, however,
which many of them deny to us. We willingly
grant the same freedom of opinion to others as we
claim for ourselves. The difficulty is to get the
generality of people to think for themselves. If
they would only do this honestly and intelligently
sacerdotalism with all its pretensions would be
immediately doomed. Second, it is not enough
merely to deny dogma. One assumption is
not disproved by making another. Destructive

96 The Doctrine op Orders.

criticism, however acute, is always unsatisfactory.
To remove old foundations will avail nothing,
unless we can establish new. Negative asser-
tions are always weak and defective when they
stand alone. We want a constructive argument
based upon Scripture, history, and reasoii. With-
out such a positive statement of doctrine the Free
Church view of Christianity — the Church, the
ministry, and the Sacraments — can never be
successfully imprinted upon the mind.

I.— The Scriptural Doctrine of the Ministry.

1. The Jewish Priesthood.

Modern criticism is casting something more
than doubt upon the validity of the Jewish priest-
hood. But this point is too technical to detain
us here, and it does not materially affect our
conclusion. No fact is becoming more apparent
than the deadly struggle between " priest " and
*' prophet " all through the Old Testament.
There was never a great crisis in the history of
Israel when these parties were not at each other's
throats. Isaiah and Amos stand out in grand
antagonism to the corrupting practices of the
priests. " Your new moons and your appointed
feasts My soul hateth " ; *^' though ye offer Me

The Doctrine of Orders. 97

burnt offerings and your meat offerings^ I will
not accept them." The writer of the fortieth and
fifty-first Psalms makes the clear distinction
between worthless external gifts and the offering
of the penitent heart to God. '^Thou desirest
not sacrifice, else would I give it ; Thou delightest
not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are
a broken spirit ; a broken and a contrite heart, 0
God, Thou wilt not despise." The Old Testament
is pervaded with denunciations of the arro-
gant assumptions of the priests and their abomin-
able treachery and immorality. Everywhere the
people are enjoined to turn from them and
consecrate themselves to the living God. Spiritual
worship in the Old Testament has no necessary
connection with the priesthood. ^' Spiritual pro-
phecy in the hands of Amos and Isaiah, and their
successors, has no such alliance with the sanctuary
and its ritual. It develops and enforces its own
doctrine of the intercourse of Jehovah with Israel,
and the conditions of His grace, without assigning
the slightest value to priests and sacrifices.^' ^'

2. Christ's Attitude towards the Jewish
Priesthood.

It is sometimes said that Christ admitted the

* Robertson Smith, The Old Test, in the Jewish Church, Ch. x.

98 The Doctrine op Orders.

"succession" of the Jewish priest-order. The
one passage adduced in support of this contention
is the saying of our Lord : " The Scribes and the
Pharisees sit in Moses' seat."^ Plainly our Lord
does not blame the Scribes and Pharisees for
instructing the people in the law and the prophets
in so far as these exhibited the mind of God.
Moreover the Old Testament Scriptures were
written mostly in pure Hebrew, and this language
had fallen into disuse in Palestine in the days of
Christ. It was, therefore, needful that some
persons should translate and expound it to the
people. Strictly speaking there is here no refer-
ence to the priesthood as such ; the Scribes are
referred to as prophets rather than priests in the
passage we have quoted. Christ said in effect :
^'Whatsoever things the Scribes and Pharisees
inculcate upon you, when they translate to you the
words of the Book of God, and whatsoever things
they prove in their teaching to be agreeable to the
mind of God, as made known in His Book — all
these things do."t But even if our Lord seems to
affirm the principle of succession among the

* Matt, xxiii. 2 — iKaQiaav = " have seated themselves."
There is doubtless "an allusion to the pretentious and
self-seeking character of the Pharisees." — Meyer, Comm.
in loc.

t Matt, xxiii. 3. — Morison, in loc.

The Doctrine op Orders. 99

Scribes, He immediately forbids any such claim
to authority in His Church. ^'But be ye not
called Eabbi, for One is your Master, even
Christ, and all ye are brethren." Obviously there
is no analogy between the function of these
scribe-teachers instructing the people in the Law,
and that of ritual-priests administering sacra-
ments which are regarded as necessary or
supremely important for salvation.

In the teaching of Christ there is no place for
the ministering priest. He had no sympathy with
the priestcraft, He never defended the order of
priests, but from first to last He stood in direct
opposition to the whole hierarchical order. " One
thing in His teaching is most remarkable — the
complete absence of sacerdotal ideas, the non-re-
cognition of those elements and customs men had
been wont to think essential to religion. He
spoke of Himself as a Teacher, never as a Priest ;
assumed no priestly office, performed no priestly
function, breathed an atmosphere that had no
sacerdotal odour, that was full only of the largest
and most fragrant humanity. He instituted no
sacerdotal office or rite, appointed no man to any
sacerdotal duty. . . His ideal stood in so sharp
an antithesis to that of the priest and the scribe,
that He was unintelligible to both ; was regarded

100 The Doctrine of Oedees.

and treated hy both as an absolute enemy." ^
Further, the whole sacrificial system of Israel, like
the law of which it was a part, was fulfilled, and
so ended, in Christ. The sacrifices of the law
were " a shadow of good things to come, and not
the very image of the things." When the reality,
which the law foreshadowed, actually appeared
among men, the shadow for ever vanished. If,
therefore, we still seek righteousness through
a sacrificial system, we nullify the grace of
God; for '^if righteousness came by the law,
then Christ died in vain." Any analogy drawn
between the Levitical priesthood and Romish
or High Anglican orders can have no signifi-
cance whatever. The system of human inter-
mediaries between God and man has been for
ever abolished. ^' There is one God, one Mediator
also between God and men. Himself Man, Christ
Jesus."

3. Typical Illusteations.

To maintain their theory of orders Sacer-
dotalists necessarily affirm two propositions, viz.,
that Episcopal ordination is a pre-essential of a
valid ministry, and that immorality and heresy
on the part of the priest do not invalidate his

* Fairbairn, Catholicism : Boman and Anglican, pp. 29, 24-5.

The Doctrine op Oeders. 101

ministry. Both these propositions are directly
contradicted by two significant New Testament
cases.

(1) The Case of the Apostle Paul. — That Paul
was ordained at Antioch by the imposition of
hands is an undeniable fact. The instance is
most suggestive, and we invite attention to the
following analysis, a. There was a direct mandate
from heaven for this ordination or " separation "
(cupopLG-are), hence it had a special significance.
Calvin, with whom Professor Stokes agrees,^ sug-
gested that this ordination was necessary to meet
the prejudices of the Jewish Christians against
the Gentiles. Paul had spent much time among
his fellow-Jews, now he would turn, with full
earnestness, to the Gentile world. To prove that
God had ordained and sanctioned this new mission-
ary departure, the Holy Ghost said, " Separate me
Barnabas and Saul." This special consecration to
the new work would do much to silence all Jewish
critics, who, notwithstanding their profession of
Christianity, had no sympathy with the conversion
of the Gentile world. /3. Those who laid hands on
Paul were unordained themselves. Who were
Niger, Lucius, and Manaen ? Not priests, but
^' prophets and teachers." Moreover, the act of

* Stokes, Expos. Bib. Acts, Vol. ii., pp. 190-5.

102 The Doctrine of Ordees.

ordination was the act of the whole Church ; "^ the
formal rite of the imposition of hands was by the
office-bearers of the Church. The authority to send
forth ministers^ under the Divine Spirit, is vested in
the whole Church ; the act of ordination, for pruden-
tial reasons, is assigned to the presbyters. ^^ The
good men who ordained St. Paul were themselves
unordained, and their action differed in degree, not
at all in principle, from that of a number of pious
men who are the heads of a congregation of people
gathered somewhere in the name of the Lord, and
who, being guided by the Holy Grhost to recog-
nise the gifts of some one for the ministry, should
ordain him to the office." It is quite evident that,
according to Ritualists, Paul's ordination was not
valid, and yet he would be a bold man who would
thrust the Apostle out of the succession. 7. The
Apostle attached no special importance to his
human or ecclesiastical ordination. His position
was that every man called and qualified by Christ
was an Apostle, whether recognised by the Church
or not. There are Apostles who have been
ordained by the Church, there are Apostles who
have not been so ordained, and there are those
ordained by the Church who are not Apostles.

* Acts xiii. 1 : /caret tV olcrau iKK\7](riav = " with the existing
Church,"

The Doctrine of Orders. 103

^' Paul was quite distinct and clear. He said : I
do not deny that St. Peter and St. James are
Apostles, but I also insist I am as much an
Apostle ; they can give me nothing that I cannot
give to them ; I am independent of them, and I
stand on the basis of my relation to Jesus Christ,
as fully ordained an Apostle as any one of them,
though I have been independent of them, and my
ministry is parallel with theirs. Who called me ?
Not Peter, but Christ. Who gave me my work to
do ? Not Peter, but Christ. Who ordained and
established me in my office? Not Peter, but
Christ." The example and teaching of Paul are un-
answerable arguments against the sacerdotal theory
of ordination. " Paul an Apostle (not from men,
neither through men, but through Jesus Christ, and
God the Father) ." B. Paul set the work of the pro-
phet far above that of the priest. In fact, the priest
has no place in the ministry of the Apostle, nor in
the teaching of the New Testament. The ultimate
tests of every ministry are character and results,
Paul's great appeal was to the number of converts
he had made by the Cross. It is of no use for a
man to present sealed documents to show that at
a particular time, in a particular place, by a par-
ticular person, through a particular method, he
was validly ordained. At the bar of human

104 The Doctrine op Orders.

reason he will be asked what life he has led, what
sacrifices he has made, what disciples he has
gained for his Master. " I am become all things
to all men, that I may by all means save some."
It is not by any sacramental shibboleth that men
are saved, but by the preaching of the Gospel.
"Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach
the Gospel: not in wisdom of words, lest the
cross of Christ should be made void."

(2) The Case of the Apostle Judas, — It is afiirmed
by Ritualists that Christ knew, when He chose
Judas into the Apostleship, that he would betray
Him, that after the betrayal Judas was still
reckoned one of the Twelve, and that he did
Apostolic work to the last. We contend that the
facts do not support this theory, and we appeal to
the New Testament and to reason, a. That Christ
knew who should betray Him is nothing to the
purpose. Our Lord's omniscience does not inter-
fere with the freedom of the human will or with
personal character. However unworthy Judas
proved, he was doubtless sincere when he was
called to the Apostleship. Such is the fallibility of
human nature, that the most devout disciple of
Christ to-day may be an utter apostate a few
years hence. That Christ should choose Judas,
who. He knew, would prove a traitor, is no more

The Doctrine of Orders. 105

puzzling than that He should call into His Church
many in every age who ultimately fail in their
Divine mission. Both the call and the fall of Judas
may be shrouded in mystery^ hut the mystery is
a poor basis for the heinous dogma we here rebut.
ff, Judas was not a '^ devil " and an Apostle at the
same time. The contrary view is maintained by
sacerdotalists ; but the theory is repugnant to
common-sense and to the spirit of Christianity.
The Eleven may have regarded Judas as one of
their number after his secret hypocrisy in
covenanting with the priests ; his innermost heart
was closed to them. But as seen by Christy Judas
had already fallen, he was devil-possessed before
the deed of betrayal. " Did not I choose you the
Twelve, and one of you is a devil." When the
devil entered into Judas, he at that moment fell
from the Apostleship. When he lost his character
he forfeited his office. Christ looks at the hearts
of men, and He will not sanction the works of
those who secretly deny Him. Who has courage
enough to assert that Judas, after the betrayal,
could celebrate a valid Sacrament ? I have entirely
misread the New Testament if it be true that
Christ is so wholly indifferent to moral character.
7. Judas fell from the Apostolate through sin.
Ritualists must hold that the valid ministry of

106 The Docthine of Ordees.

Judas remained to the end, that it was only
terminated by suicide. The New Testament shows
that it was not death, but sin which put an end
to his ministry. That there was no formal ex-
pulsion of Judas from the Apostleship by Christ
or by the Eleven is of no importance ; there was
no necessity for any such overt act. Two things
are made clear by Luke in the Acts — that the gap
in the number of the Twelve was caused hy sin,
and that it wsiS filled on the ground of spirituality,
'' Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men,
show of these two the one whom Thou hast chosen
to take the place in this ministry and Apostleship,
from which Judas fell away, that he might go to
his own place."^

4. New Testament Termtnologt.

It is too late in the day and quite unnecessary
to prove that the three orders of the ministry find
no support in the technical language of the New
Testament. It is certain that the terms irpecr^vrepo^
and iirto-KOTTo^i {^^ elder " and '^ bishop ") are
interchangeable terms ; the former having Jewish
associations and the latter Hellenic. In Acts

* The Greek is simply h(\>' ^r irape^T], away from which he
jpassed over. The causal element is rightly expressed by the
Text. Eecp. — " by transgression."

The Doctrine op Orders. 107

XX. 17, Paul is said to have summoned to Miletus
the " elders " [irpea^vrepov^) of the Ephesian
Church. Yet^ addressing them immediately after,
in verse 28, he appeals to them as ^^ bishops "
(eTna-KOTTov^), whose duty it was "to feed the
Church of God,"* When these words were intro-
duced into the New Testament they brought with
them no priestly significance. The Jewish priest
as such was not designated 7rp6a^vTepo<;, nor was
the pagan priest termed iiTLaKoiro^, Neither
word would of necessity have suggested to Jew or
Greek any sacerdotal function whatever. The
official term for the priest was lepev<;, a word
nowhere in the New Testament applied to an
officer in the Christian Church. If this term had
been employ ed, its import would not only have
been leligious, but distinctly sacerdotal. The
conclusion, therefore, is apparent: a definite,
technical, acknowledged priestly term is declined
by every New Testament writer and finds its
substitute in terms which contain no priestly
element whatever. In the employment of official
and distinguishing names Christ and the Apostles

* TrpecrfivTfpos and iiri(rK6-n:os denote one office ; the former term
denotes the dignity, and the latter the duties of the office.
vpea^vs = old. More frequently the comparative is used:
"Trpearfivrepos = older. The word is clearly so employed in
Acts XV. 23, ol irpfff^vrepoi == " the elder brethren."

108 The Doctrine op Orders.

were most consistent. '* The people the Apostles
represent and address, the society they describe,
may have in its collective being a priestly
character, but is without an official priesthood.
It has ^ apostles/ ^ prophets,' ' overseers ' or
* bishops,' ' elders/ ^ pastors,' ' teachers/ ^ minis-
ters ' or ' deacons,' ' evangelists ' ; but it has no
^ priests,' and no man, or body of men, who bear
the name, hold the place, exercise the functions, or
fulfil the duties of the priest or the priesthood as
they were known in ancient religions." ^

5. The Two Orders of the Apostolic Church.

These are the Presbyteriate and the Diaconate.
Both orders grew out oO the Apostolic office,
which at first embraced the functions of the
diaconate [hiaKovia tcjv Tpaire^wv), as well as the
functions of the presbyteriate {ScaKovla rod Xoyov),
" Christ chose Apostles only, and left them to
divide their labour under the guidance of His
Spirit, with proper regard to times and circum-
stances, and to found such additional offices in
the Church as were useful and necessary."

(1) The Presbyteriate. — We have freely admitted
the religious equality of all believers, the priest-

* Fairbairn, Christ in Modern Theol., p. 49.

The Doctrine of Orders. 109^

hood of all Christians. We would^ however,
guard against any ultra-democratical theory
respecting the position and functions of the
ministry. After His resurrection Christ gave
special *^ commandments " to the Apostles, ^^ being
seen of them forty days, and speaking of the
things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." In
virtue of their commission from Christ, the
Apostles exercised the power of making laws and
constitutions for the government of the Church ;,
of enforcing these laws with such penalties as the
case required; of ejecting the incorrigible from
the communion of saints ; of choosing proper
persons to fill sacred ofiices ; and of electing their
successors to rule in the Church, and to ad-
minister its Sacraments. The Apostles undoubtedly
possessed powers of a miraculous nature which
they could not transmit to their successors. Out-
side the Apostolic Twelve, St. Paul was the most
remarkable presbyter, ruling the Churches with
unquestionable authority. He claimed the right
of decreeing " ordinances " for the regulation of
the Asiatic Churches, and claimed for these
Apostolic decreta the force and validity of Divine
precepts : " Take knowledge of the things which
I write unto you, that they are the commandments
of the Lord." It is evident that Paul in all his.

110 The Doctrine of Orders.

Epistles and labours wrote and acted " as one
having authority," and not submissively deferring
every question to the popular voice. The position
of Timothy and Titus was along the same Pauline
plane. Timothy was empowered to make regula-
tions for the orderly conduct of worship ; to guard
the purity of doctrines taught in the Church ; to
ordain qualified men for the ministry ; to maintain
Church offices; to publicly rebuke transgressors,
and to excommunicate the incorrigible. Titus was
authorised to " ordain elders " in the cities of
Crete, and to '' set in order " the whole adminis-
tration of those Churches ; to *^ exhort and rebuke
with all authority," and to " refuse [irapaLrov)
the heretical after a first and second admonition."
The function of the Presbyteriate is two-fold : To
^^feed the flock of God" {Troo/judvaTe), and to
take "the oversight thereof" (iTrcaKOTrovvre^).
The duties involved may be summarised thus : a,
the Apostles, and afterwards the elders, were the
ultimate judges of ministerial qualifications ; ^,
they formally appointed their fellow-labourers and
ordained their successors ; 7, they maintained the
Word of God, and preached its saving verities ; 8,
they administered the holy Sacraments of Baptism
and the Lord's Supper ; e, they officially admitted
into, and excluded from, the fellowship of the

The Doctrine op Orders. Ill

Church ; f, they were the under-shepherds, Christ
being the Chief Shepherd.

(2) The Diaconate. — Like the eldership-, the office
of deacons had a precedent in the Jewish syna-
gogue, but in the Christian Church it grew out of
an emergency in the congregation at Jerusalem.
The institution of this order is recorded in
Acts vi. The points to be distinguished are : a. No
spiritual function whatever was conferred with
the appointment of the deacons ; /3, the duties of
this office were distinctly contrasted with those
of the Apostles ; 7, the approval of the " seven "
was with " the whole multitude " ; the ordination
by the imposition of the Apostles' hands ; 3, the
special functions of the diaconate were financial ;
€, the purpose of this order was to relieve the
Apostles of the temporal affairs of the Church,
that they might devote themselves wholly to its
spiritual interests. ^^ Then the Twelve called the
multitude of the disciples unto them, and said,
It is not fit that we should forsake the word of
God, and serve tables. Look ye out therefore,
brethren, from among you seven men of good
report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we
may appoint over this business. But we will con-
tinue stedf astly in prayer and in the ministry of the
Word." It appears, however, that early in the

112 The Doctrine of Orders.

primitive Church deacons undertook some of the
duties of the higher office. Philip and Stephen,
who were among the original " seven," preached
and baptized. In fact, the diaconate served as a
novitiate to the higher functions of the ministry.
All deacons did not become presbyters, but those
only who possessed the essential qualifications —
the aptness and the ability to teach {Bi,BaKTiKov,
iKavoL KCLi SiBa^ac), That the Apostolic Church
at Jerusalem resorted to this expedient of ordain-
ing deacons shows the elasticity of the primitive
organisation. The only order instituted by Christ
was the Apostleship, which is continued in the
presbyterio- episcopate ; the only order instituted
by the Apostles was the diaconate, which is per-
petuated in the lay-elders, deacons, or stewards of
the modern Church. The office and function of
deacons are differently interpreted in the Epis-
copal, Presbyterian, and Congregational types of
ecclesiastical administration. In the Anglican
Church deacons are permitted to perform any of
the sacred offices except pronouncing the absolu-
tion and consecrating the elements of the Lord's
Supper. In the Presbyterian Church the deacons
care for the poor, and minister in many ways to
the necessities of the congregation. But fre-
quently their duties are performed by the elders.

The Doctrine of Orders. 113

called ruling elders.^ In Congregational Churches
the deacons take the place of the ruling elders in
the Presbyterian Church. In the Episcopal Church
there are three orders and three offices — bishops,
priests, and deacons. In the Presbyterian Church
there are two orders — ministers and elders, and
three offices — presbyters, ruling elders, and
deacons. In Independent Churches there is one
order — presbyters, and two offices — pastors and
deacons.

II.— The Sacerdotal Doctrine of the Ministry.

There are certain elements in human nature
which seem permanent, and are passed on from
generation to generation. External phases often
change, but underlying principles remain the
same. Hence the maxim, " history repeats
itself " ; hence, too, the Church has to confront,
from time to time, old evils in new garbs.

1. The Tendency to Check Reformation.

During the second half of the seventeenth
century there was a great revival in the C Lurch

* By the foremost Presbyterian writers the distinctioii
between the teaching and the ruling eldership is little more
than an expedient for convenience. The principle of identity
is conceded.— Fide Bigg, Church Organisations, pp. 130-1.

114 The Doctrine of Oedees.

of Rome. The chief mover of that revival was
Molinos, a priest, and also a prophet. He secured
the attention of the cardinals and gained the ear
of the Pope. At length he made a bold request,
which Innocent XI. granted. " Let devout per-
sons," he said, "receive the body and blood of
Christ without confession to a priest." But what
did this really involve ? It meant an indifference
to the externals of religion, an ignoring of ecclesi-
astical authority, and a subtraction from the
occupation of the priests. Then the Jesuits — the
ablest, most subtle and dangerous sect the
world has ever known — discovered an affinity to
the Reformation. They began the attack, they
approached the Pope, they pointed out the danger.
Come to the Sacrament without confession !
Come to Christ without a priest ! What will
become of the priests ? Very soon Molinos found
himself in prison, his property confiscated, and
his friends incarcerated. He died in the dungeons
of the Inquisition in Rome, 1697.

The Tractarians repeated in England the prin-
ciples of the Jesuits in Rome. During the early
part of the nineteenth century a friendly relation
existed between the Established Church of Eng-
land and the Protestant Churches on the Con-
tinent. This is clear from the writings of many

The Doctrine of Orders. 115

Anglican divines,, and also from the manner iii.
which Episcopalians selected their missionaries;
from Continental Churches without re-ordination,.
Against all this a movement was inaugurated
about 1833 by John Henry Newman. He was
joined by a few others, and the effects of the
^^ Oxford Movement" are apparent in the dis-
organised condition of the Anglican Church to—
day. In asserting that Episcopacy is an absolutely
essential condition of Christ's Church, the
Tractarians imagined they would promptly and
effectually silence the Low Church party and all
Dissenters.

2. The Sacerdotal Claim.

It is contended that without the EpiscopaF
succession faith is nothing, the Sacraments are
invalid, and those who seek Christ through any
other channel are aliens from the inheritance of
grace and are left to the uncovenanted mercies of
God. To show that this is not an exaggerated*
statement of the case the following quotations
from Church dignitaries are given. ^^An un-
interrupted series of valid ordinations has carried
down the Apostolical succession in our Churches
to the present day. There is not a bishop, priest.

116 The Doctrine op Orders.

or deacon among us who cannot, if he please,
trace his own spiritual descent from St. Peter or
St. Paul."^ Another sajs : "The bishops of the
Church of England are by unbroken succession
the descendants and representatives of the original
Twelve."t Another says : " The gift of the Spirit
is dependent on the laying on of Apostolic hands,
and therefore can exist in its covenanted fulness
only where the Apostolic organisation abides."
Another : " Those who are in this succession alone
have the Holy Ghost to dispense in Baptism, to im-
part in confirmation and in ordination." J Another :
*^ The Apostles had the power to transmit the
ministry." § We might think that the strong
common-sense of the English people would have
repudiated these preposterous claims and spewed
them out into the abyss where the spirits of evil
fatten on the dregs of human folly. But alas !
multitudes do not apprehend the tendency and
issue of these atrocious assumptions. Their least
evil is that they "unchurch" other Christian
communions. The advocates of these theories
speak of the Lutheran Church as the ^* Lutheran
Communion," they call the Scotch Church " the
Kirk," and they evade recognising Methodism as

* Dr. Hook. t Late Bp. of Oxford. X Bp. Potter.
§ Canon Liddon.

The Doctrine of Orders. 117

a Church bj calling it the ^'Wesleyan Body."
Such ecclesiastical squeamishness might make us
smile, but the degrading evils, which absurdities
of this sort produce, must turn our smile into a
groan. The natural and inevitable goal of such
dogmas is Eome. There was no via media for
Manning and Newman, nor can there be for any
of their disciples. The effect of the Tractarian
movement is to Eomanise the Anglican Church.
Indeed, this is the avowed object of the '^ English
Church Union" and other semi-secret societies.
But there is something more fatal than union
with Eome. It is a subordination of the spiritual
to the material, an obstinate and defiant intrusion
of the priest into the place of Christ. It is a theory
of the Sacraments which is debasingly magical ;
the magician-priest, irrespective of character,
administers a valid ministry. We are back again
in the days of Innocent III. — " Whoever returned
from the heretical parties to the bosom of the
Church was required to declare that he recognised
the celebration of Sacraments by sinful priests."

3. The Value of the Sacerdotal Claim.

(1) The Proof Adduced. — It is only natural to
ask for evidence of the lofty and exclusive claims

118 The Doctrine op Orders.

of Ritualists. The majority — let us hope chiefly
neophytes — who profess these dogmas have gone
through no laborious research in investigating the
grounds of their priestly claims. Nothing less
than absolute necessity, nothing less than the
plainest and most irrefragable testimony of Scrip-
ture, should induce a believer in Christ to admit
such doctrines into his mind. But where are the
proofs? Where are the texts? They cannot
produce one which, unless it be grossly twisted,
lends the slightest support to their position.
They will refer to some half-dozen verses of Scrip-
ture which they have found garbled in some
obscure ecclesiastical manual ; but, rightly inter-
preted, these verses have no reference to the
dogmas assumed ; their use in such a connection
simply attests the ignorance of those who cite
them for such a purpose. To these misquoted
texts of Scripture must be added a few extracts
from the Fathers, culled without any critical dis-
crimination as to context or purpose. This is
practically the whole basis upon which Episcopacy
and its attendant theories are built, but to found
doctrines of such momentous consequence upon
such a flimsy basis is unreasonable. It is just
here that High Anglicans, taught by Newman,
fail. Eeason is denied its proper function in

The Docteine of Orders. 119

their teaching ; at best it is only an instrument to
be trusted "in particular acts." Conscience is
the authoritative guide, and is to be implicitly
obeyed. Thus, however unreasonable teaching
may be, if the conscience can be reconciled to it,
it must be accepted and followed, though it
involves the absurdest dogmas and practices.
There is nothing that tends so much to destroy
all respect for the clergy as the demand for belief
in the incredible, and the claim for more than can
be due to them. Two things have effectually
thrown contempt upon a regular succession of the
ministry. Frst, the calling of no succession
regular but what was interrupted; and, second,
the making of the salvation of Christians depend
upon that interrupted succession. Of the his-
torical lineage the most learned men have the
least assurance, and the unlearned can have no
notion but through ignorance and credulity.

(2) The BroTcen Chain, — Probably more than a
hundred thousand persons have exercised the
functions of bishops since the close of the first
century. It is quite certain that many of these
were not in the so-called Apostolical Succession.
It is very questionable whether any minister in
the Anglican Church can trace his spiritual
genealogy back farther than the Norman con-

120 The Doctrine of Orders.

quest. There are many centuries so shrouded in
moral darkness that the transmission of orders
cannot be traced through them. Extreme
obscurity hangs over the government of the
Church during the Middle Ages ; one fact is
apparent, the Church was exceedingly ill-regu-
lated. Sees were openly sold, transferred by
popular tumult, bestowed by profligate women
on their paramours, conferred by warlike barons
on stripling kinsfolk. There were bishops ten years
old, five years old; some popes were mere boys,
whose stupid dissoluteness rivalled that of Caligula.
How any man can feel confident in resting his
claim to Apostolic validity upon such a basis, is a
triumph of ecclesiastical credulity. We are asked
first to assume that Peter was the first Bishop of
Rome. We have yet to learn that Peter ever saw
Rome, or ever had anything to do with the Chris-
tian Church there. The first link is unsound,
what of the second ? TertuUian says that Clement
was Peter's successor; Irenseus and Augustine
affirm that Linus succeeded Peter. But Bishop
Pearson shows that Linus died before Peter, con-
sequently he could not succeed him. The third
link is confusion worse confounded. Irenseus
says that Anacletus was the third from Peter;
TertuUian says that Linus was the third ; Augus-

The Doctrine of Orders. 121

tine places Clement third from Peter. Romish
writers generally put the name of Cletus third in
the list of bishops, thus making a distinction
between Cletus and Anacletus. Thej venerate
two separate saints on two separate days, one of
whom never had a real existence ; for Bishop
Pearson shows that Cletus is simply an abbrevia-
tion of Anacletus. Similar confusion accompanies
the succession of Romish orders down through
the Dark Ages. Indeed, the Apostolic claim in
the English Sees of Canterbury and York contains
some very uncertain and questionable links. It
is not without significance that the great ecclesias-
tical historian, Eusebius, in the fourth century
endeavoured to complete the chain of bishops,
from his own day back to the Apostles. But the
task was hopeless, and he confessed that he felt
like one attempting a desert and untrodden path,
and that he was utterly unable to find even the
bare traces of those who had gone before him.
This was the testimony of Eusebius, who lived in
the fourth century, when we might imagine the
enterprise was not one of insuperable difficulty.
Yet we find a bishop of the Anglican Church, who
lived in the nineteenth century, declaring that his
pedigree and that of his ministerial confreres was
quite clear and unbroken right up to the Apostles*

122 The Doctrine of Oeders.

III.— The Free Church Doctrine of the Ministry.

The comicality of the Anglican claim to Apos-
tolic succession cannot fail to strike all students of
the subject. There are two orders of Churches —
(1) the Episcopal or so-called Catholic, including
the Greek, Eoman, and Anglican Churches ; (2)
the Reformed or Free Churches, including those
of the Presbyterian and Congregational type.
Now the ordination of a minister in a Free
Church is recognised as valid by all Churches of
this order; but the ordination of an Anglican
clergyman is repudiated by every other Church of
that order. If there be anything in the historical
succession, the Greek and Roman Churches are
the undeniable possessors ; the Anglican Church
has no valid claim. The abject manner in which
English Churchmen stand at the door of the
Vatican, pleading for recognition, is quite un-
worthy of the ancient and honoured Church of
England. The absolute and unequivocal pro-
nouncement of the Pontifical See of the invalidity
and nullity of Anglican orders, while it is the
sport of ecclesiastical critics, should silence the
absurd pretensions of that Church. The Free
Church theory of orders does not require us to
question the validity of any ministry, or to un-

The Doctrine of Orders. 123

church any community of believers. The grace of
orders is not bestowed horizontally through human
hands, but perpendicularly from the Holy Ghost.
The Scriptural doctrine of the ^^ real presence "
teaches us to find Christy, not alone in the Sacra-
ments, but wherever sincere hearts are gathered
for worship.

1. E:6suME OF Free Church Teaching.

In contrasting the Evangelical doctrine with
the Eitualistic theory, it will be convenient to
present the two aspects of the position : (1) Nega-
tive aspect. The Free Churches deny that the
Church of Christ exists only in one form of eccle-
siastical polity ; that ministers are " priests " in
another sense than that in which all believers are
*' a royal priesthood " ; that the Lord's Table is an
altar on which the oblation of the Body and
Blood of Christ is offered anew to the Father ; that
the presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper is a
presence in the elements of bread and wine ; that
regeneration is inseparably connected with Bap-
tism ; and that Episcopacy is essential to the esse
of the Church. (2) Positive aspect. The Free
Churches assert that the Holy Scriptures are the
sole rule of faith and practice ; that Baptism and
the Lord's Supper are of Divine institution and

124 The Doctrine of Orders.

commemorative Sacraments ; that there are but
two orders in the ministry, the Presbyteriate and
the Diaconate ; that Episcopacy is not an order
but an office, ancient and, under some conditions,
probably desirable ; that the use of liturgies, ex-
tempore prayers, and the method of administering
the Sacraments are discretionary ; that the
Church exists for religion, not religion for the
Church, and therefore its policy may be abridged,
enlarged, and amended, as may seem from age to
age most conducive to the edification of the people.

2. History Contradicts Dogma.

Very few will have the audacity to say with
Cardinal Manning, " If history contradicts dogma,
so much the worse for history." We prefer
another arrangement of the terms : If dogma
contradicts history, so much the worse for dogma.
The protasis of this sentence is not difficult
to prove. Sacerdotalism rests upon a twofold
assumption — (1) That Christ established His
Church upon the Episcopal basis ; (2) That this
basis is eternally unchangeable. Having assumed
these premisses, the conclusion is logical enough,
viz., that Episcopacy is essential to the esse of the
Church. This being granted, the dogma of
Apostolical succession becomes the test of a valid

The Doctrine of Orders. 125

ministry and Church, and all historical facts are
ruthlessly ignored in the maintenance of the
speculative theory. Two considerations may be
adduced in opposition to the sacerdotal position.

(1) The Conclusions of Bishop Lightfoot. — As a
whole, nothing has yet superseded in cogency and
exactness Lightfoot's Dissertation on the Chris-
tian Ministry, There have been a few feeble
attempts to modify his profound historical find-
ings, but his main conclusions are absolutely
impregnable. Lightfoot shows the antiquity of
the Episcopal form of Church government, that it
was firmly established in the second century, and
that Cyprian was '^ the first champion of undis-
guised sacerdotalism." Behind this we cannot go
upon any documentary evidence. " It is clear
that at the close of the Apostolic age the two lower
orders of the threefold ministry were fairly and
widely established ; but traces of the third and
highest order, the Episcopate properly so called,
are few and indistinct.""^ The conclusion is that
while Episcopacy can claim great antiquity, it
cannot claim Apostolic precedent. It was a
natural growth in polity, keeping pace with the
religious demands of the Church. Originally the
bishop was a "fellow-presbyter"; the modern

* Lightfoot, The Christian Ministry (Comm. on Phil.), p. 195.

126 The Doctjrine of Orders.

sacerdotal claims are traceable to gross perver-
sions of ecclesiastical offices. But even if we
admit — what no unbiassed student can admit —
that the Apostles established the Episcopal govern-
ment of the Church, it by no means follows that
the Episcopalian system was final, or the only
system Christ would sanction and bless. The
absence of finality is one of the most character-
istic features of the Apostolic Church. Christ
introduced a living organism which was to be
developed according to environment of time and
place.

(2) The effects of Sacerdotalism on national life, —
The pretensions of some High Anglicans, that the
Church of England can claim a historical succes-
sion independently of the Eomish Communion,
are hopelessly hollow. There is abundant evi-
dence to show that up to the time of the Eeforma-
tion the English Church acknowledged the supreme
authority of the Pope, accepted the canon law of
the Vatican, and sanctioned appeals to Pontifical
courts. With the Reformation, under Henry VIII.
and Elizabeth, came a separation_, a complete
renouncement of Papal authority. The Eomish
Church rightly viewed the position, denounced
the Anglican schismatics, and consistently refused
their claims to Catholic validity. But this dis-

The Doctrine of Orders. 127

ruption of the Church was the true salvation of
England. What if this country had remained in
league with Rome and under the supremacy of the
Pope ? Look at Spain and France, and you see
most striking object-lessons. Those who demand
the Eoman hierarchy in the Church must be pre-
pared for Roman corruption and impotence in the
State. I put these questions to high Episco-
polaters : (1) If the sacerdotal theory of the
Church is the only one divinely sanctioned, how
is it that the most sacerdotal countries are the
most degraded, or despised, or godless? (2) If
the theory of the Church held by Protestant Free
Churchmen must be relegated to the '^'un-
covenanted mercies of God," how is it that those
countries, where this theory is most triumphant,
are most advanced in culture and power ?

3. Ordination does not Create Grace.

This is a point of great importance ; indeed, the
whole argument hinges upon this. Nonconform-
ists believe in ordination as consistently and prac-
tise it as regularly as Romanists and Episcopalians.
But the two views of the nature and virtue of
ordination are totally different. Ritualists main-
tain that in ordination the candidate receives
Divine grace, unction, and authority which he did

128 The Docteine op Orders.

not previously possess. Nonconformists hold that
ordination simply recognises, and sets apart for
-definite work, gifts and graces already possessed.
This position is clearly corroborated by the Acts
of the Apostles and throughout the New Testa-
ment. The ordinations in Acts vi. and xiii. were
entirely on the ground of qualifications. The
" seven " were ordained after they were recognised
as " fujl of faith and the Holy Ghost." Respect-
ing Timothy's ordination, we venture to point out
that the "gift" ('xapca/jia, 1 Tim. iv. 14) was
given " by prophecy," not by " the laying on of
the hands of the presbytery.""^ By " prophecy "
we understand *^ the qualification which justified
the ordination." The undeniable principle of the
New Testament in respect to ordination is this :
*^a recognition by the human actors of a call
already made and a qualification already imparted."
The method of ordination is of quite minor im-
portance. In the New Testament it was usually
" by the laying on of hands." According to Dr.
Hort and Prof. Eamsay the laying on of hands
was most likely by the whole company of believers,

* 5ihirpo(pT^T€ias fiera inLOicreets ruv x^^P^v tov Trpea^uTepiov = hy
means of prophecy along with the laying on of hands of the
presbytery. The irpo^TjTeia occasioned the ordination, and must
be regarded as the means through which the x^tp'O'/ifi was given
-to Timothy by the Holy Spirit. Cf. 1 Cor. xii. 4.

The Doctrine of Orders. 129

whether the act was performed by their representa-
tives or actually by all the members. If this
view be correct, it greatly diminishes the officialism
of New Testament orders. It is probable that
during the period immediately following the
Apostles the act of the imposition of hands did not
always accompany the act of ordination. In the
days of Cyprian there is no mention of the laying
on of hands. This is the more remarkable since
Cyprian was the first distinguished leader of
sacerdotalism. Two conclusions are deducible
from this position : (1) There have been periods
when, apparently, the rite of imposition of hands
has been omitted, and yet the ministry continued ;
(2) Th6 act of laying on of hands was not
always regarded as an essential function in the
continuity of the Apostolical succession. Noncon-
formists ordain their ministers, not to convey
tactually a gift, but for orderliness in administra-
tion. Ordination does not make a man's ministry
valid; it simply recognises its validity. If the
Church had better understood the doctrine of the
Holy Spirit, much sacerdotalism would have been
impossible. The theology of the third Person is
a department of sacred science in which the
Church is yet lamentably weak. The rites and
Sacraments of the Chu^^h are not to be observed

9

130 The Doctrine of Orders.

in order to receive the Holy Spirit^ but because
the Holy Spirit has been received. Men are not
ordained in order to be spiritually qualified for the
ministry, but because they are already spiritually
qualified. The Spirit anticipates the action of the
Church, the Church recognises the Spirit's pre-
sence. No passage in the New Testament, rightly
interpreted, affirms that the Holy Spirit vras
bestowed ah initio and solely by the imposition of
hands .^ But that a specific blessing accompanied
the laying on of the Apostles' hands there is no
reason to doubt.

4. Wesley's View of Ordination.

High Anglicans, in their statements respecting

orders, often refer to the position of John Wesley.

It is somewhat singular that Episcopal writers

spend so much time in attempting to prove that

Wesley was a Eitualist, and that his followers, if

they were true to the will of their founder, should

join the Established Church. This weak and

illogical argument has only created in Wesleyans

an intenser respect for their human founder, and

a more tenacious love for their Divinely-established

communion.

* On the oft-quoted passage. Acts viii. 18, see the suggestive
remarks of Slater, Methodism in the Light of the Early Church,
p. 90.

The Doctrine op Orders. 131

(1) Wesley^ 8 earlier and later position, — It can-
not be too frequently pointed out that in his
early life Wesley was a High Churchman, and
that he uttered language quite in harmony with
the sacerdotalism then prevalent in the Established
Church. He was a firm believer in Episcopacy,
but " his views of the jus divinum were those of
Cranmer and the first Eeformers, rather than
those promulgated by Bancroft in the latter part
of the sixteenth century." In his later life
Wesley completely changed his views respecting
valid ordinations and Sacraments. It is obviously
unfair to quote his early and immature opinions,
and utterly ignore his later and sounder judgment.
That Wesley at first regarded his assistants as
laymen and forbad them to administer the Sacra-
ments is freely admitted. Such duties, he main-
tained, belonged to those who held a " commission
so to do from those bishops whom we apprehend
to be in a succession from the Apostles." In 1746
Wesley read Lord King's Account of the Primitive
Church, and he Avrote : " In spite of the vehement
prejudice of my education, I was ready to believe
that this was a fair and impartial draft ; but if so,
it would follow that bishops and presbyters are
(essentially) of one order, and that originally
every Christian congregation was a Church inde-

132 The Doctrine of Orders.

pendent of all others." If bishops and presbyters
are the same order, it follows they have the
same right to ordain. This right Wesley, as a
presbyter, began to exercise in 1784. Writing
the same year to his brother Charles, he said : " I
firmly believe I am a Scriptural eViV/coTro? as much
as any man in England, or in Europe ; for the
uninterrupted succession I know to be a fable,
which no man ever did or can prove."^

(2) Ordinations after Wesley, — For forty-five
years after Wesley's death his followers did not
ordain by imposition of hands. It is almost
unaccountable that this primitive and Scriptural
practice should have been so long neglected. It
was so, however, until the Conference of 1836,
when the following resolution was adopted : " The
Conference, after mature deliberation, resolves,
that the preachers who are this year to be publicly
admitted into full connexion, shall be ordained
by imposition of hands ; that this shall be our
standing rule and usage in future years; and
that any rule of a contrary nature which may be
in existence, shall be, and is hereby, rescinded."
The Form of ordaining candidates in the Wesleyan
Church is based upon the Form and Manner of
Ordering of Priests in the Established Church of
* Works, Vol. xiii., pp. 218, 220.

The Docteine ov Ordees. 133

England. In its Wesleyan guise^ however, that
Form is thoroughly Protestantised. It is simple,
impressive, and Scriptural. It is, however, only a
form; it is neither the indispensable nor the
exclusive mode of ordination.

rv.
CHURCH GOVERNMENT.

CHURCH GOVERNMENT.

The sagacious Stillingfleet said : '^ All the laws
occurring in Scripture respecting Church govern-
ment may be referred to these three heads : such
as set down the qualifications of the persons for
the office of government ; such as require a right
management of their office ; and such as lay down
rules for the management of their office." We
do not expect to find in the New Testament
details of Church polity such as were given for the
guidance of the Jewish Church, but general laws
or principles, the application of which is left to
circumstances of time and place. Every institu-
tion, civil or religious, must be under some kind
of government. The Christian Church is an
institution, a visible Society, and necessarily
implies government for its permanent existence.
In addition to this argument, which finds its
strength in the nature of things, there is a
government of the Church by Divine right, suffi-
ciently affirmed by Scripture precedents. The

138 Church Government.

one debatable question is the particular form of
government and its special modes of adminis-
tration.

I.— Types of Ecclesiastical Polity.

There are three great systems of ecclesiastical
polity — Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Congrega-
tional Independency. The New Testament does
not directly enjoin either, but allows each. The
method of Church rule could not be stereotyped
during the inchoate stages of its growth. The
form of ecclesiastical administration in any age
must depend upon the state of civilisation and
religion, and these depend upon the development
of thought and spirit. There are doubtless certain
permanent elements underlying the evolution of
the Church, but those phases which are subject to
the law of development must constantly change
their expression. The doctrine of evolution is
strikingly illustrated in the history of Church
government. The chronological order of the
three types of ecclesiastical administration, in
what we may term the modern Church, is that
given above — Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Con-
gregational Independency. But, going back to
primitive Christianity, we find the order reversed,
and this is the order in which we shall briefly

Church GoverNxMEnt. 139

characterise them, because it is more consonant
with the natural law of development.

1. Congregationalism.

This was probably the form of the primitive
Churches. But it was early superseded by the
creation of certain offices, and the appointment of
certain officials to whom the administration of
Church affairs was entrusted. Still later the
Presbyteriate was superseded by the Episcopate.
Modern Congregational Independency has been
described as an "arrested growth." It was
formally organised in England by Eobert Browne
about the year 1580. Browne first attempted to
reform the Church of England in some of the
parishes. He visited ISTorwich, declaring that, if
reformation were impossible, " every true Christian
was to leave such parishes, and to seek the Church
of God wheresoever." Here his principles were
fully developed, and here he founded a Congrega-
tional Church. Congregationalism, like Method-
ism, was at first a reaction from the vain
inventions, abominable idolatries, and spiritual
inanition of the Established Church. " The dis-
tinguishing principles of English Congregational-
ism are : 1. That Jesus Christ is the only Head of
the Church, and that the Word of God is its only

140 Church Government.

statute-book. 2. That visible Churches are
distinct assemblies of godly men gathered out of
the world for purely religious purposes, and not to
be confounded with the world. 3. That these
separate Churches have full power to choose their
own officers, and to maintain discipline. 4. That,
in respect of their internal management, they are
each independent of all other Churches, and
equally independent of State control." The ruling
principle is decentralisation of power ; the type of
government is republican ; the final court of appeal
is democratic. It is as if all the Christian world
were summoned together, while both Episcopacy
and Presbyterianism are alike abolished, and a voice
from, the sky should proclaim, Divide et Impera.

The defects of the system thus outlined are
obvious. New Testament principles are unwar-
rantably applied. (1) There is the confusion of a
spiritual and political republic. If it were shown
that the government of the Church must be based
upon a political system, it would have to be proved
what political system. To affirm the political anti-
State-Church and Whig principles of Congrega-
tionalism would be a miserable petitio principii.
Moreover, there is no New Testament justification
for transferring a democratic or any other theory
of civil government to the administration of that

Chuech Government. 141

kingdom which is not of this world. (2) There
is the failure to recognise the rights and preroga-
tives of the Pastorate. There is no clergj-nucleus,
no organised clerical brotherhood as the centre of
Church government and extension. The pastor of
a Congregational Church is the servant of the
whole membership. In one sense he is the chief
officer of the churchy but he possesses no ex-
clusive authority. There is the absence of the
^^ pastoral rule " so prominent in the Epistles of
the New Testament. (3) There is the confusion
of a spiritual and ecclesiastical equality. Spirit-
ual equality is the primary right of every believer,
spiritual nurture. Christian fellowship, and free-
religious activity are vital demands of the soul,
and are claimed by all believers without distinc-
tion of time or place. But this differs entirely
from rights of legislation and administration.
Neither in Church nor State can all be rulers.
Wherever such extreme democracy is forced, the
result is either confusion or despotism. When Con-
gregationalism escapes both these results, its actual
procedure is a violation of its theoretical polity. .

2. Presbytekianism.

This was the second important stage in early
Church government. It was the natural and

142 Church Government.

rational coalescence of contiguous groups of
Churches. The irpeo-^vTepcov (Presbytery) of the
Apostolic Church corresponds to the Jewish
^^ eldermen " of the congregation, or " aldermen "
of the city, chosen to rule over the people collect-
ively, or in distinct localities. The writer of the
Apocalypse speaks of " the angels^ of the seven
Churches," meaning the messengers of God hav-
ing the oversight of those Christian communities.
The New Testament does not advance explicitly
beyond this form of ecclesiastical administration.
Modem Presbyterianism dates from the sixteenth
century, and is due to the genius of Calvin. In
its government both clergy and elders are members
of the Church courts, and both are known as
^^ Presbyters." The clergy are both rulers and
pastors ; the elders are rulers only, hence called
*^ Ruling Elders." The principle of Lay-ruling
Elders is peculiar to Presbyterianism ; it may be
justified from a regulative and expedient point of
view, but we find no direct precedent in the New
Testament. This polity is distinguished from In-
dependency, which ignores ministers as a class ;

* In the Classics 6.yyeAos is synonymous with irpeafivs. In
Xen. Hell, i., 4, 2, we have o'i re AaKeSaifjLoviuv irpforfieis Koi ol &\\oi
&yy€\oi. Sometimes it is synonymous with KT]pv^, vide Anah. ii.
3, 1, tt al. [From Cremer, Bihlio-Theological Lexicon, Art.

Church Government. 143

and from Erastianism^ which is lay government
pure and simple. There are four courts in which
the Presbyters, clerical and lay, exercise their
;authority : (1) The Kirk Session. This is usually
the parish council, and consists of the minister
and at least two lay elders as his assessors. It has
authority " to exercise discipline and administer
religious ordinances within the parochial area.
(2) The Presbytery. This consists of the pastors
and representative elders from a limited district.
It is a court of appeal from the Kirk Session,
and possesses higher jurisdiction. 3. The Synod.
This consists of a number of Presbyteries within
a ^'Province," and includes all the members of
the lower courts. It is commonly known as the
" Provincial Assembly." 4. The General Assembly.
This is a representative court consisting of a
number of ministers and elders chosen by all the
Presbyteries of the Church. This supreme court
possesses administrative, judicial, and legislative
powers. Its legislative authority, however, can
only be exercised with the express concurrence
of a majority of the Presbyteries of the Church.
The Established Church of Scotland maintains
'^that there is no necessary conflict between
the principle of spiritual independence and the
principle of a national establishment of religion.

144 Chuech Goveenment.

which it holds to be the duty of the State and of
the Church alike to recognise. On this vital
question the civil law sustains the claims of the
ecclesiastical courts. In all ecclesiastical causes
and matters purely spiritual, the Church courts
are by Act of Parliament declared to be supreme."
The Free Church of Scotland, while refusing sub-
jection to the State and to receive its tempor-
alities, holds in all respects to the government,
discipline, standards, and worship of the Estab-
lished Church. The prosperity of the Free Church
since 1843 is its Divine imprimatur, and proves
that connection with the State is not only un-
necessary, but inexpedient. There is a growing
belief that the existing alliance of the Established
Church with the State should be dissolved, so that
all the Presbyterian Churches of Scotland might
meet on a common level and form one united
Christian communion.

3. Episcopalianism.

This was a further natural and reasonable
development of ecclesiastical government. When
a Church became so numerically strong as to
require a number of Presbyters or local ministers,
or when a number of contiguous Churches sought
mutual association, they would require a presi-

Church Government. 145

dent, superintendent, or overseer. This last term
is the literal translation of the word eVtV/coTro?,
which in Church history has been rendered
" Bishop." Originally, the presiding elder in each
congregation was the eTria-KoiTo^ ; thus there were
as many bishops as there were Churches. With
the growth of the Christian Church the office of
the presiding elder or bishop was invested with
greater authority, and his jurisdiction extended
over a larger area. A little later this elevation of
office became an elevation in rank. The bishops
alone could transmit the ministry, and no Church
was valid unless episcopally governed.

There are three great branches of Christ's
Church which claim the Episcopacy or the Apos-
tolical succession : the Greek, the Latin, and the
Anglican. The Greek or Eastern Church holds
that bishops rule jure divino, and that they alone
can transmit Apostolic grace. But it refuses to
acknowledge the Pope, or Patriarch, or any
Pontiff as above the bishops, or as possessing
supreme authority in the Church. The Latin
or Western Church holds the dogma of the three-
fold ministry : " If any one saith that in the
Catholic Church there is not a hierarchy insti-
tuted by Divine ordinance, consisting of bishops,
priests, and deacons, let him be anathema." The

10

146 Chuech Government.

Romish Church also maintains the infallibility of
the Pope, when he speaks ex cathedra. The words
of Cyprian, " Ecclesia est in Episcopo/' concisely
express the Roman Catholic doctrine.

The Anglican Church tolerates two classes of
opinion respecting the Episcopacy. (1) The Anglo-
Catholic or High Church view. In all essential
particulars this is the same as the Roman Catholic
doctrine. Bishops are distinct from priests and
deacons, and higher than both. The jus divinum
of Episcopacy is maintained as essential to the
existence of the Church. Grace is said to be
transmitted by the imposition of hands, and the
Apostolical succession is a sine qua non of a valid
Church. It is affirmed that bishops "being the
successors of the Apostles, are possessed of the
same power of jurisdiction." The Anglo-Catholics,
however, do not recognise the supremacy and
infallibility of the Pope as the Vicar of Christ,
nor do they reckon ordination among the Chris-
tian Sacraments. (2) The Low or Broad Church
view. The best representatives of this view admit
that Episcopacy is not the only form of Church
government with Scriptural authority; but it is
the one best adapted to advance the Kingdom of
God. That is, Episcopacy is not essential to the
esse of the Church, but to its bene esse. This view

Church Government. 147

is compatible with what we have already stated,
that the Episcopate developed out of the Presbj-
teriate, and consequently there were only two
original orders of the ministry — presbyters and
deacons. An English bishop is nominated by the
Sovereign and elected by the dean and chapter of
the cathedral. He has his consistory court to
hear ecclesiastical causes, and pays occasional
visits to the local clergy. He has the exclusive
right to consecrate Churches, to ordain priests, ta
confirm, and to excommunicate. To assist in
diocesan work there are several officers — arch-
deacon, dean, chancellor, and others — whose
duties are prescribed and performed under the
authority of the bishop. The Archbishop, superior
in office, not in order, has special privileges and
functions. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the
first peer of the realm.

II.— New Testament Precedents.

It cannot be too frequently pointed out that the-
Bible is a book of general principles, and not a
code of particular rules. There is no phase of
history or experience which may not be found in
principle in the Scriptures, but there is no phase
wrought out in all its details. The Christian

148 Church Government.

revelation contained in the New Testament is
potentially complete and final, but its actuality
is progressive, and adaptable to the difiPerent stages
of human development. The work of the Church
is not the creation of new principles, but, first, the
better understanding of the implicit principles
embodied in the teaching of Christ and the
Apostles, and, second, their application to new and
ever-increasing demands of age and place. It is
time to recognise " the futility of endeavouring to
make the Apostolic history into a set of authorita-
tive precedents, to be rigorously copied without
regard to time and place, thus turning the Grospel
into a second Levitical code. The Apostolic age
is full of embodiments of purposes and principles
of the most instructive kind, but the responsibility
of choosing the means was left for ever to the
Ecclesia itself, and to each Ecclesia, guided by
ancient precedent on the one hand, and adaptation
to present and future needs on the other. The
lesson-book of the Ecclesia, and of every Ecclesia,
is not a law, but a history." ^

1. The Form of the New Testament Church
NOT A Finality.

Doctrine and polity, appointment of officers,

* Hort, The Christian Ecclesia, pp. 232-3.

Church Government. 149

and performance of rites, are all sanctioned and
authorised by New Testament precedent, but the
forms and methods were determined by local
circumstances. " The Lord founded no order of
priests, and just as little did He found a system
of Church government. Everything lying in this
sphere He left to be shaped by the needs and
circumstances of the time. Even the institutions
established by the Apostles for the guidance of
particular Churches are merely finger-posts and
examples, not a binding law ; all that is binding
on Christendom is the method of salvation, which
again is not a legal one, but a method of grace."
The garments of the infant Church would be
unsuitable to the state of puberty, and these again
to the maturity of the Church. The Church of
the Dark Ages failed to recognise this fact;
indeed, failui*e to appreciate this truth has charac-
terised the history of ecclesiastical life since the
second century. The early and mediaeval Councils
sought to stereotype both the doctrine and the
polity of the Church. No provision was made for
the evolution of mind and conscience. No creed
can compass the whole truth, and no polity can
claim adaptability to undeveloped phases of
Church history. These may satisfy the age of
their production ; they will certainly be outgrown

150 Church Government.

by the next. The great disturbances of the
Church — the frictions and factions — have been
the struggles of the expanding mind to throw ofE
the chafing shackles of a creed and a polity no
longer broad enough for the age. It would be a
sad inversion of reason to suppose that the Fathers
of the first few centuries could formulate a system
of doctrine and establish a form of Church
government that should be immortal. To assert
such an opinion is but another way of saying
that the early Fathers could cramp and bind the
human mind and affections for ever. Even if a
particular and definite form of Church discipline
were discoverable in the New Testament, there
would still be lacking any indication that it was
binding for all ages and places. It is a most
baseless assumption that Church order must be
the same in the fourth and in the nineteenth
centuries ; the same in Asia as in America. " The
excellence of outward forms and regulations must
be measured by their suitableness in particular
circumstances to promote the spiritual ends for
which Christianity exists, and by nothing else.**

2. The Basis op the Earliest Type op
Organisation.

It has been often remarked that the New Testa-

Church Government. 151

ment gives no account of the instiUdion of any
type of Church government. But this statement
overlooks an important fact, and often leads to
erroneous conclusions. Every society of men must
have leaders and rules of some sort. At first the
position of leaders may be informal, and the rules
unwritten and elastic. But some person to take
the initiative, and some rules for common action
there must be. This is a natural law arising from
the nature of things and from the constitution of
man. The organisation of the Church, however
rudimentary, can be no exception to natural law.
It is remarkable, therefore, that the New Testa-
ment gives no account of the general rules which
guided the Apostles in the organisation of the
primitive Church, unless such rules previously
existed.

The Hebrew-Christian Church was conformed
to the model of the Jewish synagogue. The type
of Church government which had been established
for generations among the Hebrew community in
Palestine and the Diaspora was accepted and
utilised by the Apostles. The cardinal institution
in the Jewish Church was the eldership. This
idea was borrowed by the founders of the Chris-
tian Church, and became the chief institution in
its organisation. We may, therefore, speak of

152 Church Government.

both the Hebrew and the Christian Church polity
as Presbyterian, " This, then, is the reason why
you do not find distinct traces in the New Testa-
ment of the creation of the Presbyterian form of
Church government. The Apostles could not
create what had been in use some hundreds of
years before they were born. They themselves
were all of them Presbyterians before they were
Christians. And these are the two facts, the
knowledge of which makes us intelligent Presby-
terians : First, that the form of government in
the Church before Christ came was Presbyterian ;
and, secondly, that this form of government was
not abolished nor altered, but simply accepted and
perpetuated by the Apostles. It was extended to
all the groups of people who received Christ." In
coming to this conclusion we would point out two
things : (1) The basal element of Presbyterianism
in the Apostolic Church was to grow with the
development of the society, expand with the
emergencies of history, and adapt itself to the
conditions of each new age. (2) It by no means
follows that modern Presbyterianism in all its
phases and peculiarities is a faithful reproduction
of the New Testament type.

Church Gtoveenment. 155

3. The Mode of Appointing Church Officers.

Here, as in other respects, we must look for
general principles, rather than details, in the
election to ecclesiastical positions. While the
New Testament precedents are not stereotyped,
yet the Church of to-day should not ignore the
Apostolic types.

(1) ±he Appointment of Elders. — Before Pente-
cost the Twelve formed the nucleus of the Chris-
tian Church. When Judas fell there remained a
gap, which Christ left vacant at His ascension,
but which was filled before " the day of Pentecost
was fully come." The mode of the election of
Matthias is given with some particulars which
were probably intended as a pattern to the Church
for future elections into its ministry. The elec-
tion is preceded by prayer and study of the
Scriptures ; then the matter is introduced by one
already in office. A statement is made indicating
God's will and the qualifications necessary for the
ministry. The election rests with the whole com-
pany, " with the women, and Mary the mother of
Jesus, and with His brethren " ; the approval rests
with the Apostles, who formally admitted Matthias
into their number. One omission is noticeable,
*^ there is no mention of any imposition of hand&

154 Chuech Government.

any more than in the account of the appointment
of the original Apostles of our Lord." Two things
may be observed : (1) Imposition of hands is not
an essential element in the ordination of Church
officers of the highest order ; (2) " imposition of
hands in the case of ordination is a natural symbol
indicative of the transmission of function and
authority." After Pentecost " elders " were asso-
ciated with the Apostles in Jerusalem ; in some
places they appear alone. No doubt they existed
before Pentecost and were more or less in touch
with the Apostles ; but they were not mentioned
by name till the close of the first section of the
Acts. The formation of the Jerusalem Church
is described with some minuteness, yet there is
no account of the appointment of elders. The
explanation has been indicated. Among the
Hebrew Christians at Jerusalem there was a
sufficient number of elders — men who had held
that office in the Jewish synagogue, and, becoming
Christians, continued their office in the Christian
Church witJiout re-ordination. In new Churches
subsequently formed by the Apostles, the appoint-
ment of elders was one of the first and chief
concerns. We find Paul and Barnabas ordaining
"elders in every Church." We may conclude
that the election and ordination of these elders

Church Government. 155

to the Presbyteriate conformed to the mode
followed in the appointment of Matthias to the
A postdate.

(2) The Appointment of Deacons. — The office of
deacons in the Christian Church was justified
partly by ancient Jewish custom, and partly by
the exigencies of the time. The appointment of
the " seven " is recorded with much precision in
Acts vi., and the method probably contains some
permanent elements.^ An emergency arises
respecting the poorer members of the Church — it
is a financial question. The causal circumstances
and the suggested course of action are brought by
the Apostles before a specially convened meeting of
the whole Church. The members of the Churchy
in their collective capacity, choose from among
themselves the " seven men " whom they regard
fittest for the office, and ^^put them before the
Apostles." The Apostles, approving of the choice,
formally set the men apart to the diaconate by
prayer and imposition of hands. There is no
material divergence between the method adopted
in the election of Matthias and that followed in
the ordination of the seven. In both cases, while
the whole Church is consulted, the j^postles " claim
the power of ordination and appointment for them-

* See the very suggestive notes of Meyer, Comm., Acts vi. 3.

156 Chttech Government.

selves. The people nominated while the Apostles
appointed."

The office of deaconess is not very clearly indi-
cated in the New Testament, but there is sufficient
Scriptural ground for the office. In one passage,
at least, the office of deaconess is referred to by
name.^ Such an office was, no doubt, a necessity
of the times. The life of women was separate
and secluded, and involved a kind of ministration
that could be best performed by women. The
Apostolic Constitutions give illustrations of this
propriety in connection with Baptism, visiting the
women's part of a house and introducing women
to the bishop. It would, perhaps, be unsafe to
affirm that deaconesses held an ecclesiastical
office in the New Testament Church ; their work
may have been rather auxiliary to the regular
diaconate. That the office should be retained and
utilised in the modern Church is desirable from
many points of view. Deaconesses would consti-
tute a very useful auxiliary in the organisation of
any Church. They could not only relieve the
pastor of much visitation, but they could render

* Rom. xvi. 1, where Phoebe is described as *'a servant
{kio-kovov = deaconess) of the Church." Probably those men-
tioned in versa 12 were deaconesses. No other trace of the
office is found in the New Testament. Cf. Inter. Crit. Comm.
in loc.

Church Government. 157

help in cases which could not be reached by the
pastor. The modem sisterhoods of the Episcopal
Church, and the institution of deaconesses in some
Free Churches, are, like so many of our present
ecclesiastical equipments, revivals of Apostolic and
primitive types and precedents.

The broad distinction here drawn between
presbyters and deacons must not be pressed too
absolutely. When the " seven " were appointed
over the financial business of the Church, they
were not excluded from the presbyter's work.
And when the Apostles desired to give themselves
to ^'the ministry of the Word," they did not
relinquish all the secular responsibilities of the
Church. The division of labour here indicated,
however, is unquestionably of paramount import-
ance in the eflicient government of the Church.
The tendency of the present age is to make un-
reasonable demands upon the presbyters of the
Church for purely secular and financial affairs.
The chief work of the presbyter is ^^in the
ministry of the Word," that is, the chief function
of the ordained minister is preaching. Find an
age in which preaching was neglected, and you
find an age in which the Church declined. Point
out a Church that subordinates preaching to
social gatherings and financial schemes, and you

158 Church Goveenment.

point out a Church that is on its way to death and
burial. A preacher's chief work is preaching, and
he can better afford to neglect everything else
rather than suffer his pulpit ministrations to
decline. No presbyter should allow himself to be
deceived by the specious cry for pastoral visitation.
This cry often proceeds from persons who have
retired from business, and others whose lack of
employment affords them much time for gossip
and a great opportunity for fault-finding. These
persons are influenced more by a minister's hon-
homie than by his preaching. There is a true
pastoral visitation and there is a true social
element in Christianity, neither of which can
be ignored without serious consequences to both
Church and pastor. St. Paul went teaching,
and even weeping, " from house to house " {Kar
6iKov<;), beseeching men to be reconciled to Grod.
This is an integral part of the presbyter's
function, and must be distinguished from that
perfunctory visitation whose least evil is to kill
time. We recognise fully the importance of
the pastoral and social phases of the ministry,
yet everything must be subordinated to the public
preaching of the Word : '' Christ sent me not to
baptize, but to preach the Grospel."

If there are not so many great preachers in

CnrRCH GOVEENMENT. 159

the Church to-day as there were fifty years ago,
the reason has been indicated. Men are not less
capable to-day, but their time is absorbed in
manifold financial schemes, and wasted at ever-
increasing social functions. The results are empty
sanctuaries and declining Churches. Not until
presbyters fearlessly return to Apostolic precedent
will the Church of Christ be rescued : " It is not
fit that we should forsake the Word of God, and
serve tables. . . . But we will continue stead-
fastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the
Word."

4. Local Autonomy.

When the Asiatic Churches were founded by
the missionary Apostles they were independent of
any foreign or outside authority. In no case was
it enjoined that any community of Christians
should be under the control of some other com-
munity. The Churches at Corinth and Ephesus
were never commanded by their Apostolic founders
to submit their local arrangements to the older
Church at Jerusalem. Isolated and scattered
congregations were enjoined to yield obedience to
their own local leaders and pastors; but these
leaders and pastors were never enjoined to submit
to any metropolitan or central Church authority.

160 Church Government.

Under their one Head and guided by His Spirit,
local Churches had the right to legislate on
matters affecting their own organisation and dis-
cipline. Nor could it be otherwise in the primi-
tive Churches — (1) because these Churches were
separated by long distances and there was no easy
method of communication ; (2) because each town
or province had its peculiar characteristics, and
the polity suitable to one might not profit all ; (3)
because the Church organism, like every other,
develops most naturally within the liberty of its own
environment, and not by enforced and mechanical
ah extra influences. It must, however, be carefully
observed that while each local Church had the
right of self-government, this right was never
-exercised in any exclusive or extreme form. As a
matter of expediency and mutual consolidation, the
isolated Churches did confer as far as practicable
and submit to each other certain questions which
agitated their respective communions. Hence,
probably, an absolutely independent Church is
foreign to the New Testament.

5. The Growth of Inter-Communion.

While the Apostolic Churches were inde-
pendent ecclesiastical institutions and possessed
the right of local autonomy, yet very early in

Ghuech Goveenment. 161

their history, on grounds of expediency, they co-
operated and constituted an inchoate community
of Churches, or a connexionalism in germ. The
following points will justify this position.

(1) The Church at Jerusalem was regarded as the
common standard of reference. — The Apostolic
Council at Jerusalem did not claim to be the seat
of authority for all the Churches ; but the weaker
and more isolated congregations found it much to
their advantage to refer certain questions for
decision to the older Church at Jerusalem. The
case of the Antioch Church is significant. A
discussion arose respecting a Jewish ceremony.
The disputation was so sharp that it was difficult
to settle the matter in the agitated local Church.
And '' they determined that Paul and Barnabas,
and certain others of them, should go up to
Jerusalem unto the Apostles and elders, about this
question." Two things are noticeable : (1) The
reference to the Jerusalem Church was voluntary
on the part of the members at Antioch ; the
former did not claim authority to suppress the
right of local independence, and the latter were
not constrained to surrender that right. (2) The
Apostolic Council makes this the occasion of
formulating decrees for the guidance of other
Churches. These decrees, however, must be

11

162 Church Government.

regarded as tentative and recommendatory rather
than possessing oecumenical authority.

(2) Financial Go-operation. — It is not a little
remarkable that the financial condition of the
Apostolic Churches was almost the first factor in
developing the spirit of mutual assistance and
social and ecclesiastical inter-action. Out of this
sprang the order of deacons^ whose primitive
function was the care of the poor and the manage-
ment of the secular offices of the Church. Con-
tributions were sent from one congregation to
assist the poor of another congregation. This
practice was general in Apostolic times. Writing
to the Corinthians, the Apostle says : "Concerning
the collection for the saints, as I have given
order to the Churches of Gralatia, even so do ye."
The different Churches were thus under a common
direction, and were distinctly " referred to each
other for regulative precedents and examples for
imitation." Again to the same Church : " Not
that other men be eased and ye burdened ; but by
an equality, that now at this time your abundance
may be a supply for their want ; that their abun-
dance also may be a supply for your want ; that
there may be equality." The principle of New
Testament communism and mutual aid could not
be expressed in more definite terms. Paul also

Chijech Government. 163

claimed that his personal maintenance was the
common care of the Churches. "Ye have done
well that ye did communicate with my affliction."
We are well aware that " the common care of all
the Churches for each, and their obligation to
afford mutual help in proportion to emergent
necessities — the dependence of the Apostle him-
self, whilst prosecuting his missionary labours,
upon the common love and duty of the Churches
to which he had ministered — all this, though it
strongly savours of the principle, does not abso-
lutely prove the fact of connexional organisation
as characterising the early Churches." ^

(3) Plurality of Congregations and Pastors. — The
word Church is sometimes employed in the Acts
and Epistles in a collective sense. It does not
invariably signify one company of believers
assembled in one place for worship ; it sometimes
includes a number of such companies located in
the same town or district. The chief argument in
support of this view is the number of members
who must have constituted some of the Apostolic
Churches. The Church at Jerusalem and Ephesus
probably contained no fewer than ten thousand
members. These Churches could not be ac-

* Eigg, Connexional Polity, p. 13. I am indebted to this
work for some suggestions in the last section of this Lecture.

164 Chijkch Goveenment.

commodated in one building ; the primitive Chris-
tians possessed no large sanctuaries for their reli-
gious services. In a Church of ten thousand or
fifteen thousand members there must have been
a number of separate congregations and separate
administration of religious ordinances. But these
separate gatherings constituted only one Church
under a common polity. There was mutual
assistance and inter-communion, that is_, connex-
ional unity. When we read of "Churches in
houses," we do not suppose that they were
absolutely independent communities, with separate
government and pastors. " No evidence exists
that the Christian community in any one city
was divided into as many separate organisations
as there were separate places of assembly for
public worship." It is quite likely, however, that
each congregation and household assembly had
its own teacher and sacramental ordinances. But
these worked in harmony and co-operation with
other such gatherings in the same city or neigh-
bourhood. Hence we conclude: (1) A small
company worshipping in a house may be called a
Church ; but in this case it signifies an assembly
or meeting of believers. (2) The aggregation of
such branch-meetings or tributary assemblies in
any place may also be called a Church, since

Chtjrch Government. 165

they are governed by the same authority and
submit to a common discipline.

III.— Connexionalism versus Independency.

Fifty years ago there was considerable and
bitter controversy between the representatives of
the Independent and Presbyterian types of
Church government. The Congregationalists
were on the one side and the Methodists
were on the other. The former claimed Divine
right and ;N"ew Testament precedent for their
independency ; the latter with equal confidence
claimed Scriptural sanction for their connexion-
alism, and justified their position on the
ground of adaptation and expediency. Both
parties were probably biassed by training and
associations in favour of their respective theories,
and consequently advocated extreme views. The
day of bitter rivalry has happily passed, and the
Free Churches are studiously cultivating a true
rapprochement. There is a tendency in Congre-
gationalism to become more connexional, and a
tendency in Methodism to become more congrega-
tional. The ideal Church polity is probably in
some via media, but tending towards connexion-
alism rather than independency.

166 Chuech Government.

1. Defects of Extreme Independency.

(1) Lack of Strength from Union. — Indepen-
dency may be carried to such an extent that no
aggregation of isolated congregations can properly
be termed a Church. Such independency may
flatter itself with ideas about Divine rights and
Apostolic models^ separation from the State and
perfect freedom ; but it lacks compactness, mutual
sympathy, power of co-operation, defence and
aggression from concerted action, and provision
for the spiritual needs of small and impoverished
rural populations. There is weakness in any
division 'of force or interest. The strength of an
army is not in its scattered regiments, but in its
united battalions. The triumph of the Church
against the world is assured, not to dislocated and
divided onslaughts, but to concentrated efforts
and confederated spirits. " Stand fast in one
spirit, with one mind striving together for the
faith of the Gospel."

(2) Insufficient Guarantee of Purity, — This is
chiefly noticeable in regard to the ministry. The
New Testament precedent indicates that the
fidelity of the ministry is entrusted to the sur-
veillance of the pastorate itself. Some sort of
Episcopal oversight of the ministry is a desidera-

Chuech Government. 167

turn in every Church. In an isolated and inde~
pendent congregation there is no protection against
theological error or moral default. That one
such congregation is satisfied with the teaching,
character, and general qualifications of a minister
is not a sufficient credential for the acceptance of
that minister as pastor of another congregation.
A thoroughly systematised union of Churches and
of ministers provides the necessary checks and
guarantees in these respects. The Apostles not
only claimed the prerogative of appointing
teachers and pastors to the several Churches, but
they were the guardians of pure doctrine and
faithful discipline. Thus Paul wrote to Timothy :
" Charge certain men not to teach a different
doctrine." Some central court or ecclesiastical
tribunal is essential to the maintenance of a pure
ministry. Such a Church court should be (1) abso-
lutely impartial in its constitution and procedure,
and should have (2) absolute authority to adjudi-
cate on questions of doctrines and character.

(3) Deprecation of the Authority of the Pastorate
— In an Independent Church the people elect by
direct vote, and consequently the minister is hence-
forth completely dependent upon them for his posi-
tion and power. An Independent minister is the
most dependent of all God's servants. His utter-

168 Church Government.

ance is valid only in so far as it expresses the
opinion of the majority of his members. Indeed,
he possesses no ruling power and may be humili-
ated in many ways. The language of John
Angell James is probably too severe as character-
ising the whole Independent ministry, yet it
•contains a modicum of unpleasant truth : ^' The
pastor is depressed far below his just level. His
opinion is received with no deference, his person
treated with no respect, and, in the presence of
some of his lay-tyrants, if he has anything to say,
it must be something similar to the ancient sooth-
sayers ; he is only permitted to peep and mutter
from the dust." A few pastors of exceptional
ability, whose praise is in all the Churches, and
who are recognised leaders of thought, are prac-
tically independent of their congregations, and
they lead their deacons captive at their will. But
it will not be denied that a considerable number
of Independent ministers stand in jeopardy every
hour. Only a union of Churches upon the con-
nexional principle can remedy this galling defect.

(4) Inadequate Lay Agency, — This applies chiefly
to the absence of lay preaching in Independent
Churches. Where there is a fixed minister for
each congregation there can be no place for lay
preachers. In such cases the pastor has a monopoly

Church Government. 169

of pulpit teaching, and no provision is made for
preaching the Gospel to those who do not sit
under that exclusive ministry. It is certain that
in New Testament times "many besides the
appointed pastors of the Churches were accustomed
to exercise a ^ gift of teaching,' or of ' exhorta-
tion.' " Moreover, the Independent system pro-
vides ^' no nursery for the ministry, no introductory
or preparatory grade of office, out of which suit-
able persons might be taken as candidates for the
separated ministry ; no preliminary condition in
which capacity and fitness for the ministry may
be discovered, tested, and trained." We rejoice
to admit that some Independent Churches largely
atone for this defect by the splendid missions
which are conducted in various thickly-populated
districts under the direction of deacons and lay
elders. These social, philanthropic, and evan-
gelical crusades afford valuable opportunities for
the exercise of the manifold gifts of the conse-
crated laity. These efforts, however^ always depend
upon the spirit of enthusiasm in the local Churchy
and are subject to fluctuations. The need is for
some connexional polity, systematising the regular
and recognised employment of the gifts and graces
of the great body of the Protestant laity.

(5) Incompetent Missionary Force, — An Indepen-

170 Church Government.

dent Church cannot send out many evangelists to
the " regions beyond," nor to desolate districts
at home. This might be done to some extent by
a large and wealthy Church ; but could not be
attempted by small and isolated congregations
struggling for their own existence in villages and
country districts. Nothing is more certain than
that the Apostolic Church sent messengers from
city to city and from shore to shore. The spirit
of liberality for the purposes of missionary aggres-
sion was consistently inculcated by St. Paul. A
self-centred Church must lack this spirit of true
evangelism and catholicity ; it becomes selfish,
languid, and unprogressive. It is when Churches
unite that a powerful missionary agency is con-
stituted and gigantic enterprises made possible.
Churches must realise that the success of one is
the success of the whole, and that by concerted
action alone can the glad tidings of salvation be
carried to the ends of the earth.

2. Advantages of some Connexionalism.

The unrest in modern Congregationalism is sig-
nificant. Since the Eevolution of 1688 Congrega-
tionalism has been most jealous of its independency.
During the last two hundred years many attempts
have been made to form associations and councils.

Church Government. 171

but not till recently have these been encouraged.
Of late, however, several proposals have been made
to consolidate the work of Congregationalism by
associating the Independent Churches. The modern
unrest is significant in two respects : (1) it is a
reaction from the earlier extreme Independency,
which put the Church outside the law of ecclesias-
tical evolution ; (2) it is an indication that Congre-
gationalism is seeking some form and degree of
connexionalism. Congregationalism has always
been better in practice than in theory. In several
respects it violates the fundamental principle
of Independency. The Church-Aid Society, the
London Missionary Society, the County Associa-
tions, the Annual Unions^ not to mention the
suggested Sustentation Fund, are all inconsistent
with absolute Independency, and are types of
connexionalism. At present Congregationalism
feels the need of some central authority, which
should have power to formulate decrees and
authority to render them effective. Such a
central authority we regard as necessary to
regulate the Church in the fulfilment of her
Divine mission. But this authority should not
destroy self-government, or nuUify local autonomy.
(1) Prevention of anomalies respecting the Ministry »
— A few Christians may constitute a Church ; they

1 72 Church Government.

may elect a certain man, and he becomes their
pastor. There is no objection to this provided this
company of Christians will support him, and he is
prepared to accept what they offer, and take his
<chance when they no longer require his services.
The position, however, is too precarious to be
advocated. Again, when a minister has for some
legitimate reason resigned one pastorate, there
should be some method by which another should
be open to him. It is deplorable that really good
men should remain months, or even years, without
being able to obtain a pastorate. Again, when
a minister has faithfully performed his office
until old age or failing health render it im-
possible for him to continue his work, some pro-
vision should be made for him. The majority of
ministers of Independent Churches find it im-
possible to put by a portion of their stipend for
sickness and old age. Indeed, some of them are
haK-starved while in full work. It is evident that
these problems can only be met and solved by
some form of co-operation, some type of connex-
ionalism. Again, a change of pastorate would often
benefit both minister and people. Few men can
maintain an effective ministry before one congre-
gation for a long term of years. Unless a man
has great natural resources, the same scenes, the

Church Government. 17^

same hearers, the same routine of duty^ the same
monotony of experience, will not continue to
replenish his repertory of illustrations and in-
vigorate and inspire his mind. John Wesley
refused to " believe that it was ever the will
of our Lord that any congregation should
have one teacher only." Different men have
different talents and methods, and different
congregations have different tastes and require-
ments. To meet the conditions of both parties
a judicious type of itinerancy is essential. Again,
connexionalism renders the minister and the
people truly independent. The minister is not a
mere tool to be employed at the caprice of a
majority. He can dare to do right, without fear
of rejection or starvation. In a properly-
organised connexionalism no unpopular pastor
could force his continuance upon an unwilling
congregation, and no discontented Church could
force its pastor into the street. Other things
being equal. Denominational co-operation would
meet both these conditions.

(2) Benefits of a Common Exchequer. — The
spiritual importance of money is not sufficiently
realised in the Church. Some foolish teachers
magnify poverty as if it were synonymous with
piety, and denounce wealth as if it were synony-

174 Chuech Government.

mous with wickedness. Poverty is a greater
curse than wealth; and we do not wish the
Church to be less rich in finance^ but more com-
munistic in its distribution. No Christian
community can accomplish permanent spiritual
work while its financial basis is unsound and
chaotic. Paul^ who was a practical logician_,
insisted upon the monetary aspect of Christianity
as binding upon the primitive Churches. The
principle was not merely self-preservation, but
mutual advancement. Each local Church was to
provide, not exclusively for its own necessitous
members, but the richer were to contribute
toward the poorer. The Apostle distinctly enjoins
the Corinthians to make a collection and send their
" liberality unto Jerusalem." ^ The co-operative
principle of finance applies in manifold ways.
From a central fund^ contributed by the associated
Churches, poorly-paid ministers should be assisted.
Such an arrangement would be an unspeakable
boon for struggling Churches in impoverished
districts. By means of support from a general

* The true connexional idea is what St. Paul calls the
equality (tVoTTjros) which proves the sincerity of love, the
brotherly equalisation which guards against superfluity on
the one hand, and lack on the other (2 Cor. viii.). This must
be distinguished from the real community of goods (elxov airavra
Koiva) in the Jerusalem Church, which was nowhere else
attempted and never enjoined by the Apostles (Acts ii. 44).

Chxjech Goveenment. 175

fund more aggressive evangelical v^ork could be
undertaken in the villages of the country. And
this is becoming an imperative necessity as a
bulwark against the Komanising teaching of the
parish clergy. From a general fund, too, sub-
stantial help could be afforded in the erection of
new Churches in neglected rural districts and
rapidly-growing city suburbs. Without some
co-operative organisation it would be impossible
to promo fce^ on a wide and successful basis, home
and foreign missionary enterprises. As a matter
of fact, all the great Churches in England — some
in violation of the principle of Independency —
have institutions and agencies founded on the
connexional idea.

(3) Incitement to a Wider Outlooh — Complete
Independency tends to narrow the outlook, cramp
the mind, and limit the field of interest. Con-
nexionalism tends to remove selfishness and to
expand the sympathies of the soul. Periodic
reunions of ministers tend to promote the
Christian esprit de corps, which necessarily
influences the tone of all the associated
Churches. A minister may come from a
small and isolated Church, but he is not dis-
spirited ; he knows he is a respected member
of a great fraternity. He rightly claims and

176 Church Government.

justly receives the same consideration and
privilege as the minister of the largest and
most influential Church. Properly organised
conclaves of pastors and laymen for the considera-
tion of ecclesiastical affairs make the care of one
Church the care of the whole. There is no
impecunious cringing on the part of the weaker
Churches, and no monetary tyranny on the part
of the stronger ; the latter cheerfully co-operate
with the former. Again, connexionalism enables
the associated Churches to attempt greater things
in the matter of education. A single congrega-
tion cannot support a college for the training of
ministers, but an association of congregations
could establish and maintain colleges of the
highest academic value. So in regard to litera-
ture. An isolated Church cannot sustain
a publishing establishment, and issue books,
reviews, and magazines to command the reading
public. But a connexion of Churches should
maintain a j)ublishing house on the most successful
business principles, and produce literature of the
most varied character and of the highest quality,
that should influence large sections of the general
community. There is no reason why a great
association of Churches should not train and em-
ploy some men as experts in the fields of science.

Church Government. 177

archseologj. Biblical criticism, and literature in its
loftiest phases. All these departments of thought
should be rescued and consecrated by the Christian
Church. But again, this ideal can only be attained
by some organised ecclesiastical co-operation.

'^^

12

THE POSITION OF THE LAITY.

THE POSITION OF THE LAITY.

The use of the word laitj (Xao?) in the New
Testament is similar to that in the Septuagint.
It denotes (1) a collection of tribes, and is parallel
with *' the nations " {ra eOvq) ; (2) the people of
Israel as distinguished from the nations, and
figuratively the Christian fellowship {\ao<^ rov^eov) ;
(3) the people as a whole, the mass, sometimes
the democracy {BrjfjLo<;), and sometimes the people
as distinct from the presbyters. From this last
usage has been developed the technical mean-
ing of the word in the Church. The laity are the
members of the congregation as distinguished
from the clergy. Our object is to show that in
the primitive Church there was theoretical and
practical parity of all believers; that this New
Testament parity of Christians has been perverted
or denied by Romanists and High Anglicans ; and
that while the Reformed Churches have theo-
retically admitted the spiritual equality of all be-
lievers, their practical treatment of the laity is open
to criticism. In seeking to fulfil this object we shall

182 The Position of the Laity.

touch briefly the history and ecclesiastical polity of
the various great branches of the universal Church.

I.— The Position of the Laity in the New Testa-
ment.

The introduction of Christianity was such a
complete reaction against ancient Judaism that
the old notions of the priesthood were entirely
swept away. The Old Testament preserved the
order of priests within cast-iron bounds ; the New
Testament declared the true priestly character of
all Christians. That a distinction in office sprang
up before the close of the Apostolic canon we shall
readily admit. But the distinction was regulative,
economic, and disciplinary. The equality in
spiritual rank is legitimately claimed, and should
be unhesitatingly granted, by all who base their
ecclesiastical views upon the teaching of Christ
and the Apostles. We should carefully mark the
distinction between the Divine ordination of all
believers and the human ordination of some to
particular forms of Church work, such ordination
having Divine sanction. Our thesis here is, that
in spiritual life presbyters and laity are on the
same footing, that the functions performed by
the presbyters are such as, apart from the
question of order, may be performed by the

The Position op the Laity. 183

laity, that the ecclesiastical difference is not one
of kind, but of status or degree.

1. The Fundamental Equality op Men.

The unity of mankind is no longer a debatable
dogma, but an instinctive doctrine of the nations.
Primitive society developed according to consan-
guinity, and this produced tribal caste and
national exclusiveness. Roman jurisdiction em-
bodied the preservation of the rights of the
individual and equal justice to all. It did much
to remove the unnatural barrier between Greek
and barbarian, patrician and plebeian, employer and
employed. Impartial legislation in ancient Rome,
however, was theoretical rather than practical.
Christianity attempted to bind mankind into a
common fellowship, irrespective of social rank or
national origin. But the world was not ripe for
this Christian ideal, and the Church, which ignored
slavery in domestic life and overlooked despotism
in State affairs, was really sacrificing the principle
of equality which it sought to promote. The
degenerate mediaeval Church did not fail to profit
by this inconsistent position of Christianity. The
distinction between the spiritual and secular orders,
which was born and fostered in early asceticism,
was forced to its logical issue. The spiritual

184 The Position of the Laity.

orders were,5of course, regarded as higher than the
secular, and Hildebrand demanded that the Church
should govern the world. The Reformation
denied the distinction between the spiritual and
secular members of the Church. It asserted " that
the Divine principle could be realised, and ought
to be realised, in the life of the laity as much
as in that of the clergy, in the State as much as in
the Church.""^ The Divine right of kings and of
priests gave way'to the Divine right of humanity ;
the exclusiveness of Judaism was supplanted by
the cosmopolitanism of Christianity; the papal
hierarchy was overthrown by the priesthood of the
whole Church.

2. The Priesthood of all Believers.

The points of difference between the Jewish and
Christian Church are set forth clearly by the
Apostle Peter and in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
The Jews had a temple of God, Christians are the
temple of God ; the former was built of inanimate
matter, the latter are living stones; the former
introduced a particular priesthood into the
Church, the latter constitute a lepdrevfMa aycov, ^^ a
holy priesthood " ; in the former, sacrifices were
offered by the few for the whole congregation;

* Cairdj Evolution of Religion, Vol. I., p. 17.

The Position of the Laity. 185

in the latter, each member offers spiritual sacrifice
in the name of the one High-Priest. " The idea
of a universal priesthood here expressed is opposed
not only to the Catholic doctrine of a particular
priesthood, but to all teaching with regard to the
ofiice of the administration of word and Sacrament
which in any way ascribes to its possessors an
importance in the Church, resting on Divine
mandate, and necessary for the communication of
salvation {i.e., priestly importance)." But in
asserting the doctrine of the universal priesthood
of believers we must guard against two errors.

(1) The sacerdotal theory of the ministry. This
is emphatically repudiated by every New Testa-
ment writer ; it is dishonouring to the dignity and
ofiice of our Lord, and inconsistent with the
principle of spiritual equality. Whenever the
New Testament speaks of sacrifice in Christian
worship the reference is either "to the priestly
character of all true believers, or is figuratively
applied to the functions of the ministry."

(2) The denial of a ministerial order. For the
regulation and perpetuation of the Church rules
and officers are essential factors. The New
Testament makes it certain that a regular and
uniform ministerial constitution was appointed for
the administration of Church functions after the

186 The Position of the Laity.

extraordinary gifts of the Apostles were with-
drawn. Hence the doctrine of the priesthood of
all believers, while utterly opposed to modern
sacerdotal claims, is perfectly consistent with a
ministerial order, whose functions are ministering
the Word, shepherding the flock, and guiding the
Church.

3. The Co-operation of the Laity in Church
Administration.

(1) In the Election of Church Officers. — The
celebrated Hooker makes this admission : " Till
it be proved that some special law of Christ hath
for ever annexed unto the clergy alone the power
to make ecclesiastical laws, we are to hold it a
thing most consonant with equity and reason,
that no ecclesiastical laws be made in a Christian
commonwealth, without consent as well of the
laity as of the clergy."^ Bannerman, in a very
able work on this subject, says : '^ It seems a fair
inference, from all the circumstances of the case,
that the choice of the presbyters in each con-
gregation was entrusted to the members of the
Church. . . . Both in the appointment of an
Apostle and in that of the seven deacons the
election was made by the whole body of the

* Eccles. Pol., Vol. II. p. 451.

The Position of the Laity. 187

disciples. . . . The initiation as regards
choice lay with the members of the Christian
community as a body.""^ In his Ecclesiastical
Polity of the New Testament Dr. Jacob sums up
his argument thus : ^^ (i.) In the appointment and
removal of the ministers themselves; (ii.) in the
general edification and discipline of the Church ;
(iii.) in questions of doctrine and dogmatic
teachings the laity had a voice and were able to
make it heard.'^f These are statements which
no sophistry can explain away, and they are
sufficient to show that the ritualistic assumptions
respecting the hierarchy are without Scriptural
warrant and utterly baseless. It may also
appear that the practice in some Free Churches
of admitting and excluding ministers by the
pastorate alone is not quite in harmony with New
Testament precedent and primitive Christianity.
Whether this practice of exclusive pastoral
authority has been rendered expedient by the
development of the Church may be an open
question and must be decided upon other grounds.
(2) In the Administration of CMirch Sacraments,
Nowhere in the New Testament is a spiritual act
mentioned which in itself was of such a nature

* Scripture Doctrine of the Church, pp. 536-538.
t Eccl. Pol. of the New Test., pp. 146, 147.

188 The Position of the Laity.

that it could not be performed by every Church
member, " There are positively no sacred rites
or acts which it is declared in the New Testament
must be administered by men ordained, or in any
way separated from the general body of Chris-
tians. The two Sacraments are justly considered
the most solemn of Christian ordinances; but
even for them such administration is nowhere
commanded. With regard to Baptism, the
Apostles evidently did not care to baptize with
their own hands, but directed others to perform
the rite. And lay Baptism has always been con-
sidered valid, even in the most sacerdotal periods
of the Church. . . . The celebration of the
Eucharist at first included an actual supper, in
imitation of the scene at its institution. And, as
at the Jewish Passover, any person might preside,
usually the master of the house. This was
probably the case in the earliest times in the
Christian Church also. And so Pressense remarks
that the words of St. Paul to the Corinthians
imply that all Christians might break the bread
and bless the cup at the Lord's Supper, and not
an officiating minister only ; for he says, ^ the
bread which we break,' and ^ the cup of blessing
which we bless.' "^ This is not the place to point

* Jacob, Eccl. Pol., pp. 144 — 145.

The Position op the Laity. 189

out the traditional growths and priestlj usurpa-
tions in the history of these solemn ordinances.
We wish here simply to indicate the position of lay
members in the New Testament Church with respect
to ecclesiastical rites. With the development of
the Church, order in the formation of its organisa-
tion, and regularity in the administration of its Sac-
raments, were rendered expedient and imperative.
At the same time, we would emphasize the belief
that the exclusion of the laity in the administra-
tion of the Holy Communion is unscriptural and
impolitic. At the institution of the Lord's Supper
the disciples were assembled round a table, not
kneeling at a chancel-rail. Christ blessed the
bread and the cup, and they passed from His hands
round the table from disciple to disciple. This is
the natural interpretation of what took place in
the upper-room, and this was the method of cele-
brating the rite in the primitive Church. Kneel-
ing at the chancel-rail in little companies, and
each receiving the elements from the hands of the
ordained minister alone, though understood to
be a form of expediency, has still to many
minds an unwelcome appearance of sacerdotalism.
This is the order observed in the Eoman and
Anglican Churches, in some Lutheran Churches,
in the Methodist Episcopal Church of America,

190 The Position op the Laity.

and in the Wesleyan Methodist Church of
England. The more Scriptural and primitive
method is observed in Churches of the Calvinistic
type. The officiating minister offers a free prayer,
and then, while repeating the words of institution,
presents the elements to his neighbours on the
left and right, after which the bread and wine are
passed from hand to hand round the table or along
the pew as the case may be. This is the more
appropriate manner in which the Lord's Supper
should be administered in Churches professing to be
Reformed. There are circumstances in which lay-
men should not merely assist, but wholly administer
the Sacrament. There are small congregations in
many rural districts that do not see an ordained
minister for months, especially on the Lord's Day.
Are such congregations in consequence to be
deprived of the sacred rite? Surely not. Let
capable and godly laymen be commissioned to
administer the Sacrament in all places where the
services of a regular minister cannot be secured.

II.— The Position of the Laity in Churches of
the Episcopal Type.

1. Geneeal Statement op the Position.

It is important, in these days of ritualistic as-

The Position op the Laity. 191

sumptions, to distinguish between the elasticity and
tentative character of ecclesiastical polity in the
New Testament and the dogmatic teaching of
mediaeval sacerdotalists. What is not directly
established and enjoined in the Scriptures we do
not regard as positively imperative in the Church.
Early traditions and councils have no more Divine
authority than modern ecclesiastical decisions.
If this distinction be clearly kept in mind we
shall not be deceived by the claims of Roman
cardinals and Anglican Jesuits. The earliest
divergence between clergy and laity is wrapped in
considerable obscurity; but the lines are clear
enough for our purpose. We have shown that
there is no order of clergy, in the sacerdotal sense,
in .the New Testament, but the doctrine of the
spiritual parity of all believers. However, the
New Testament does recognise two orders of
Church oflS-Cers, "one having more particularly
the care of the spiritual interests of the flock, and
the other more particularly that of its temporal
or quasi-temporal affairs. The former is the
Pastorate, the latter the Diaconate; and these
two have been generally retained, though with
different names and varying fimctions, by most
bodies of Christian people.""^ In the primitive

* Pope, Comp. of TheoL, Vol. iii., page 341.

192 The Position of the Laity.

Ohurch. the presbyteriate was only local; the
presbyter had no diocese, he presided only at his
own Church meetings, and his position was not
ecclesiastical but prudential. This state of things
remained till the second century, when an attempt
was made to unite, for strength and safety, the
isolated and scattered Churches. For this pur-
pose one of the local presbyters was raised from
among his peers to be the leader. With the new
position the presiding elder took the title of
" bishop " or " overseer," and to him the govern-
ment of the Church was more and more entrusted.
About the same time the three orders of Church
officers came into prominence, though not with
their modern pretensions. During the early
decades of the second century bishops, priests,
and deacons were simply distinctions of office,
not of order or rank. It was in the struggle
against Gnosticism and Montanism that the
Episcopate attained great power, and the clergy
(regularis et secularis) assumed a position sharply
distinguished from the laity. Borrowing from Old
Testament terminology, the name " priest "^ was
given to the clergy, and with the name they were

* The word *' priest'' is only an abbreviated form of
" presbyter," and if the latter term had been preserved in the
Book of Common Prayer much confusion would have been
avoided.

The Position of the Laity. 193

invested with new place and power. Thus
originated the hierarchy, whose later developments
are exhibited in the assumptions, exclusiveness,
bigotry, dogmatism, and casuistry of modern
Eomanism. The breach between clergy and laity
widened, and, in spite of an occasional protest,
has never been closed, and to-day Christendom is
sharply divided into two camps, one clerical, the
other lay.

2. The Position op the Laity in the Church
OP Rome.

The Greek Church differs in several respects
from the Roman, but they are much alike in creed,
polity, and worship. They agree much more with
each other than either agrees with any Protestant-
Church. ^^They were never organically united.
They differed from the beginning in nationality,
language, and genius, as the ancient Greeks
differed from the Romans; yet they grew up
together, and stood shoulder to shoulder in the
ancient conflict with Paganism and heresy." But
they were finally separated after the bitter rivalry
between the Patriarch of Constantinople and the
Pope of Rome. The schism, which has never
been healed, broke out under Photius and
Nicolas L, who excommunicated each other (869

13

194 The Position of the Laity.

and 879). The Greek Church differs from the
Koman in the following points: the single
procession of the Holy Spirit, the equality of the
patriarchs, the right of the lower clergy to marry,
Communion under both kinds, immersion as the
only valid form of Baptism, and a number of
minor ceremonies. The laity are more indepen-
dent in the Greek than in the Roman Church.
The Russian Czar, like the early Byzantine
Emperors, is the head of the Church in his
•dominions. In proceeding to point out some
<5auses which ultimately fixed an impassable gulf
between the priesthood and the people in the
Roman Catholic Church, we shall see how that
Church deviated from New Testament precedent
and principle.

(1) Celibacy of the Clergy, — There is not a single
text in the Gospels or Epistles which can be
interpreted into a prohibition of the marriage of
Christian ministers under the Gospel dispensation.
There are several passages, however, which intimate
that they are allowed the same liberty in this
matter as other Church members enjoy. It is
^Iso certain that for many centuries after the
Apostles the officiating elders and deacons were
permitted to marry. Yaleus, presbyter of Philippi,
TertuUian, a presbyter of the second century.

The Position of the Laity. 195

JSTovatius and Numidius, presbyters of Carthage,
Hilary, bishop of Poictiers, and many others were
all married men. Pope Siricius (d. 399) was the
first to forbid the marriage of the clergy, but the
prohibition was little regarded until the Papacy
of Grregory VII., at the end of the eleventh century.
The celibacy of the clergy has neither the warrant
of the New Testament nor of the early Church.
Later history abundantly attests the evil results of
this abuse of Christian liberty in the irregular and
dissolute lives of the celibates. This priestly
abuse of liberty did much to keep the clergy aloof
from the common interests of the laity.

(2) Withdrawal of the Cup, — This disciplinary
rule of the Romish Church is based upon the
dogma of Concomitance, which was formally
propounded by Aquinas. It is to the effect that
when Christ's body is present in the Eucharist,
His blood is also present. The Godhead and
manhood of Christ being inseparable, it follows
that Christ HimseK, God and man, is present
in the Eucharist when either His body or
His blood is present. The bread is the body, the
blood is in the body ; hence the bread is sufficient,
and consequently the cup was withheld from the
laity. There is no justification for this dogma
either in the New Testament or in primitive Church

196 The Position op the Laity.

history. The ordinance, as commanded by Christ
and inculcated by Paul, ought to be administered
to all believers alike. During the first twelve
centuries there is no instance of the Eucharist
being celebrated in one kind only. Indeed, it was
regarded as sacrilege to deprive any of either bread
or cup at the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.
This partial administration of our Lord's most
solemn ordinance made the disparity greater
between the clerical and lay members of the
Church.

(3) Seclusion of the Clergy, — With the growth
of monasteries the clergy were divided into two
orders. The clerus regularis came into existence
about the eighth century, and consisted of clergy
who were attached to monasteries, that is, who
were monks. The clerus secularis were parish
clergymen, or ordained ministers, who kept a
school, or lived in any way not under monastic
discipline. Before the Reformation the number
of Regulars was very great, but since that time
there have been Seculars only in the Protestant
Church. With the development of mediseval
sacerdotalism portions of Churches and special
houses were set apart for clerical use. At length
it was regarded improper and impertinent for a
layman to intrude into the holy precincts of the

The Position of the Laity. 197

priests' quarters. This seclusion of the clergy and
the concomitant assumptions tended to widen the
breach between the hierarchy and the democracy.

(4) Exclusion of the Laity. — We have already
indicated the right of the laity to a voice in the
government of the New Testament Church.
There is no Scripture which precludes any believer
from performing any office in the Christian
Church. It is almost certain that both Baptism
and the Lord's Supper were administered in
Apostolic times by laymen. The lay elders and
deacons chosen by each congregation were
apparently qualified to celebrate any part of Divine
worship. ^' It is clear from both the Acts of the
Apostles and St. Paul's Epistles, that ' liberty of
prophesying ' prevailed in the Apostolic age. It is
equally clear that it existed after the Apostolic age
. . . . But little by little those members of
the Christian Churches who did not hold office
were excluded from the performance of almost all
ecclesiastical functions. At first a layman might
not preach if a bishop were present^ and then not
if any Church officer was present, and finally not
at all."^ The Eomish Church, which did not
always re-baptize those who were once baptized
by laymen, acknowledged only the validity of the

* Hatch, Organiz, Sfc, pp. 114, 115, 124.

198 The Position op the Laity.

external part; the spiritual grace was afterwards
vouclisafed in confirmation. On the whole, the
Anglican Church maintains a similar view.
Nothing is more unscriptural than the gradual
decline of lay-influence and the growth of clerical
power in the long and intricate history of the
Christian Church. The Council of Trent even
anathematised the New Testament doctrine of the
priesthood of all believers. The determined
exclusion of laymen from the councils and
spiritual functions of the Church has resulted in
the appalling indifference of great sections of the
community to all ecclesiastical affairs, and in the
arrogant claims and sacerdotal assumptions of the
Ritualistic party.

From the foregoing considerations it will be ap-
parent that the exclusion of the laity from a share in
the management of the Romish Church was a devel-
opment. To the first Councils, whether local or
general, the laity were invited. But these councils
grew into clerical, and ultimately into Episcopal
assemblies. Although the laity and inferior clergy
attended those synods, they had practically nothing
to do with the final settlement of any ecclesiastical
affair. Only bishops met the Metropolitan, and
only bishops were summoned to the later CEcumen-
ical Coimcils. ^^We are consequently prepared

The Position of the Laity. 19^

for the fact that in such a Council as that of Trent,
or the more recent one at the Vatican, none but
bishops were allowed to vote. The hierarchy, in
fact, absorbs all authority in the Church of Eome.
They meet in sacred conclave and arrange every-
thing. The Pope is umpire, with a right of veto ;
but the Christian people are handed over to the
management of the bishops." "^

3. The Position of the Laity in the Chfrch
OF England.

The teaching of the English Church in this re-
spect is based largely upon Eomish principles, and
the briefest statement will be sufficient. In passing
from the Eoman Catholic to the Protestant Episco-
pal Church of England, we find little if any improve-
ment in the position of the laity. They have not
been restored to their New Testament privileges^
In the organisation of the Anglican Church-
practically nothing is assigned to the laity. They
are not consulted, trusted, considered, or endowed
with any authority. They have no voice, vote,
place, or power in the management of Church
affairs. "The position of the English laity is-
neither more nor less than a rag and remnant of
Popery. It is a part of that damnosa hceredit€»
* Edgar, The Oenius of Protestantism, p. 24.

200 The Position of the Laity.

which Rome has bequeathed to our Church, and
which has never been completely purged away. "^
The effect of this system is most disastrous to the
Church in general and to the laity in particular.
Lay Churchmen take no real interest in the work
of the Church. Few understand or care what is
going on in their parish or diocese ; they are
less concerned still with the work of Convoca-
tion— the great clerical debating society of the
Ohurch. There is no cohesion, no organisation,
no representation of the laity whatever. Li this
the Established Church of England stands alone.
Even the Episcopal Churches in America and the
Colonies realise the importance of lay co-opera-
tion, and they are able to act conjointly on any
emergency. No wonder that the few earnest
laymen who feel the bitterness of their position
talk of " reform," '^ disruption," and even ^^ Dis-
establishment."

IIL— The Position of the Laity in Churches
of the Reformed Type.

Extremes in all directions tend to reaction.
Priestly arrogance and corruption in the Papal
Church wrought in part their own cure in the
sixteenth century. The heart of Europe became

• Bishop Ryle, Church Reform Papers.

The Position of the Laity. 201

sick of pretence and writhed under ecclesiastical
tyranny, and then the Eeformation broke out.
" The Reformers refused to live any longer in a lie,
and chose rather to die than mock with unreality
any longer the Almighty Maker of the world."
In the succeeding struggle the laity partially
recovered their long-lost rights. Luther broke
the string which tied the tongue of the laity, and
re-introduced the principle of lay representation.

1. The Lutheran Church.

This Church is only a partially-reformed com-
munity ; it is semi-Romish in doctrine and quasi-
Romish in polity. It is the connecting link
between the old Latin Church and the new
Protestant Church. Like aU transition organisa-
tions, it is incomplete and indefinite in many
phases of its ecclesiastical government. In this
respect it is " without form," and darkness broods
over its chaotic state. As in all communities of a
Protestant type, the doctrinal position of Luther-
anism was developed much earlier than its ad-
ministrative form. Luther, indeed, was not an
organiser like Calvin ; in this respect he was the
type of Whitefield rather than Wesley. The
government of the Church is administered by
Consistories. These consist of a mixed board of

202 The Position of the Laity.

clerical and lay officers, generally appointed by
the sovereign of the country. They administer
and superintend all the ecclesiastical affairs of the
Church; they appoint and expel pastors, fix
salaries, adjudicate in questions of doctrine and
discipline, and inflict penalties. Theoretically,
the priesthood of all Christians and the parity of
the clergy are fundamental doctrines of Lutheran-
ism, but practically the polity of the Church is
much further removed from the primitive ideal.
There is a strange mixture of Protestant liberty
and sacerdotal tyranny. " In the Synodical Con-
ference the government is, on the one hand,
strictly congregational in theory, on the other
hand, really despotic in fact."

2. The Calvinistic Church.

The doctrines of this Church are far older than
Calvin. Originally the doctrines were known as
Augustinianism, from Augustine, the earliest
advocate. Calvin, however, developed only a
portion of Augustine's system, viz., the doctrines
of sin, grace, and predestination. Both Luther and
Calvin differed from Augustine on justification,
the rule of faith, the Church, and many other
points. Augustine taught many of the leading
doctrines of the Romish Church, and he is quoted

The Position op the Laity. 203

bj that Church as the greatest authority among
the Fathers. It is, therefore, the anti-Pelagian
Augustinianism of which Calvinism is a develop-
ment in Protestant form. While a student for
Holy Orders at Paris, Calvin entertained doubts
respecting the priesthood, and became more and
more dissatisfied with the teaching of Eome.
Becoming a convert to the Eeformed faith, he
vigorously prosecuted his ideals— -Presbyterianism
in the Church, and Eepublicanism in the State.
He allowed to the Church greater authority than
any other Eeformer. In his ecclesiastical scheme
he had in mind a theocracy such as that of the
Israelites. He recommended obedience to the
regular civil powers ; but he taught that Church
and State had separate and exclusive jurisdic-
tion. When civil cases arose the Church should
hand the offender over to the State for trial
and punishment ; but in matters of doctrine
the authority of the Church should be abso-
lute and final. Calvin held that the ministry
was Divinely constituted, and to it the members
of the Church were bound to pay deference.
The Consistory was composed of ministers and
elders : thus both ordained and lay presbyters
were responsible for the administration of the
Church.

204 The Position op the Laity.

3. The Presbyterian Church.

This must be regarded as a translation of Con-
tinental Calvinism. The distinctive feature is
the doctrine of the eldership. All the Reformers
desired to restore to the congregations their
primitive and 'New Testament rights, but they
differed in method. The Lutheran divines
taught the doctrine of the priesthood of all
believers, and the right of the people to call,
install, and dismiss their pastors. But the
Wittenburg Reformers failed to restore the
•eldership. Besides the preacher's office they
recognised only one other to be provided for
-ecclesiastically, viz., the care of the poor. Thus
we have " teachers " and " deacons," but no
^^ elders." This office w^as first set forth in a
practical form by Calvin. He made the elders
the third in official rank, following the '' pastors "
and the " teachers " ; the " deacons" came fourth.
This order of Calvin, however, is plainly not
Apostolic, "for the simple reason that in the
Apostolic Church the elders had the entire govern-
ment of the congregations, and the preachers were
not next to them or above them, but simply mem-
bers of the congregations — perhaps elders, per-
liaps not ; for as yet the order of preachers had

The Position of the Laity. 205

not been developed." The fundamental doctrine
of Presbyterianism is "that the government of
the Church appointed in the New Testament was
by presbyteries, that is, by associations of minis-
ters and ruling-elders, all possessed of equal
powers, without any superiority among them,
either in office or in order." There are three
courts, viz., the Session, the Presbytery, and
the Synod. The minister with the elders of each
congregation form the session, which is the
spiritual court of the local Church. All members
in full communion are entitled to vote in the
election of the minister, the elders, and other
office-bearers of the congregation. In many
Churches there is a Congregational Committee.
The members of this Committee have charge of
the temporal affairs of the Church, and in some
sense correspond to the office of " deacons " in the
primitive Church. They are elected to office by
the members in full communion. In so far as the
Presbyterian government is representative it can
claim primitive authority, and is in harmony with
modern democratic tendencies. In regarding the
teaching-elders and the ruling-elders as being on
the same level of spiritual rank, the Presbjrterian
Church can claim New Testament sanction. But
whether, in giving to lay-elders the same spiritual

206 The Position op the Laity.

authority as the pastors, Presbjterianism can claim
similar sanction is at least doubtful. The election
of elders is not by the vote of the whole member-
ship, but by the minister and his colleagues of
the Consistory or Church Council. They are not
elected annually, but for life ; the people have no
direct representation. Barrow says of the Calvin-
istic Church, and the words are equally true of the
Presbyterian, that the true laity get nothing but
"the smoky, windy title of electing their ministers
(as distinguished from the ^ elders '), and not even
a pretence of any further power or prerogative."

4. The Congkegational Chuech.

This Church was founded by the moderate party
among the Brownists and Barrowists early in the
seventeenth century. During the Commonwealth
they rapidly spread through England. With their
rivals, the Presbyterians, they suffered much after
the Eestoration. But after the Eevolution in
1688 they struck out upon a line of speedy and
permanent development. The term "Indepen-
dent," by which these Churches were first known,
indicated their ecclesiastical position. Each
Church in point of management is independent of
all other Churches, and equally independent of
State control. Congregationalism differs from

The Position op the Laity. 207

Episcopacy, which maintains a distinction of order
between clergy and laity. " The Church of
England is a clergy-Church ; its laity are merely
receptive." Congregationalism differs also from
Presbyterianism, which places the government of
the Church in the hands of the eldership. The
distinction so long maintained between the teach-
ing and the ruling eldership in Presbyterianism
must be given up, except as a matter of con-
venience. Congregationalism professes to be
ruled by the whole brotherhood, that is, the
government of each congregation is by all the
members of that congregation. One fundamental
principle is : " that in regard to questions of
Church government and discipline coming before
the Church, each several Church member possesses
equal rights with every other member." The
Congregational is a laity-Church; its ministers
have no peculiar administrative functions.

5. The Methodist Chuech.

Ko distinction can here be made between the
different branches of the Methodist Church.
Some of the secession Churches differ considerably
from the parent communion in the form of
government and the position of the laity. It is
noteworthy, however, that the history of these

208 The Position op the Laity.

branch-Churches does not indicate any special
advantages in administration and discipline ex-
celling or even equalling the polity of the older
Church. In considering the place and power of
the laity in the Methodist Church, we must be
understood to mean the Wesleyan Methodist
Church. This is the most modern of all the
great Churches. Presbyterianism and Congrega-
tionalism date from Eeformation times. The
Calvinistic Church was founded by Calvin in 1541.
Prom Geneva, with some modifications, the Pres-
byterian form of Church government was intro-
duced into Scotland by Ejiox about 1560, and
became nationalised in 1592. The first organised
Independent Church in England was founded in
1616. The earliest record of a regularly con-
stituted Baptist Church states that it was formed
in London in 1607. This was nearly one hundred
years before Wesley was bom, and the Methodist
societies were not established till 1739. Being the
latest great Church-organisation it will be interest-
ing to study at slightly greater length the position
it assigns to the laity.

(1) The position of the laity is unique. — Coming
into existence so long after the older Noncon-
formist Churches, Methodism had an oppor-
tunity of selecting the excellencies and rejecting

The Position op the Laity. 209

the defects of their ecclesiastical polities. It
differs from Episcopalianism in maintaining
that " bishop " and " elder " are synonymous
terms, and consequently there are two, not three,
orders of the ministry. It differs from Presby-
terianism in objecting to the Divine right of the
eldership to exercise exclusive ecclesiastical
authority. It differs from Congregationalism in
entrusting the ruling power to Church officers and
representatives, and not to the whole membership
of the Church. Needless to say it also differs
from Erastianism, which is lay-government pure
and simple. The organisation of Methodism is
sufficiently distinct from that of all other Churches
to justify its independent existence. The develop-
ment of Methodist polity has been toward Con-
gregational democracy, but it borrowed, and has
retained, too much from the ecclesiastical regime
of Episcopacy.

a. The modern position of the laity is an out-
growth. Methodism has been slow in granting to
the laity a fair recognition in the councils of the
Church. Without entering upon details, this
statement may be corroborated by a reference to
the constitution of the three chief councils of
Methodism. In 1750 the Circuit Quarterly Meeting
took definite shape, but its constitution was not

14

210 The Position of the Laity.

defined till 1752. At first the lay element was
very small^ but now, of course, the lay members
form the great majority. Not one of these, how-
ever, is a true circuit representative, for not one
is elected by the voice of the whole membership.
In 1801, lay representation was extended to
District Meetings (now Synods), The Conference
resolved : " That the Superintendent of every
circuit shall invite the General Steward of his
circuit to be present at the annual meeting of his
District Committee during the settling of every-
thing relating to the finances of the district ; and
every Circuit Steward shall accordingly have a
right to be present and to advise at the settlement
of all financial matters." Previous to 1801 the
District Committee was composed of ministers,
whose chief function was the consideration of
special cases and the preparation of a report for
the Conference. Not until 1878 did the laity sit
in the Annual Conference, This was the greatest
concession granted in the history of Methodism.
It was, however, but the natural evolution of
a tendency already known to Methodism. Lay-
men were already in the Circuit Quarterly Meet-
ings and the District Synods; by what law,
then, could they be excluded from the Confer-
ence ? The question discussed in the Conference

The Position of the Laity. 211

of 1875 was inevitable, how to secure to the-
laity "a more direct, adequate, and formal par-
ticipation in matters of administration not purely
pastoral ? "

/3. The modern position of the laity is based
upon New Testament precedent. Methodism
fairly maintains the balance between '^the im-
scriptural positions of hierarchical clericalism on the-
one hand, and anarchical Plymouth Brethrenism
on the other."^ It is almost equally removed
from extreme Calvinistico - Presbyterianism obj
the one hand, and from modified Quakerism on
the other. In Presbyterianism lay-power is re-
tained by its constitution as the final appeal. This
power is represented by the ruling-elders in the
Presbyteries, Synods, and General A.ssemblies^
^' These presbyters — laymen in other respects, and
representatives of the lay element — have a voice-
in matters which affect the ministerial function
as such." In the Congregational system the
power of the pastorate is reduced to a minimum
compared with that of the laity. The exaltation of
ruling-elders in Presbyterianism and tne degrada-
tion of the pastorate in Congregationalism, are-
not supported by New Testament precedent.
Methodism rightly maintains that the ministerial

* Gregory, Serial. Church Princip., page 247.

212 The Position of the Laity.

function or office is of Divine appointment, and is
for economic reasons distinguished from the
diaconal function or office. The Methodist
doctrine is that the Potestas Clavium, or Power
of the Keys, was committed by Christ to the
Apostles, and through them to duly qualified and
ordained ambassadors through all ages and coun-
tries. Hence, matters affecting the character and
locus standi of ministers is reserved for considera-
tion in the Pastoral Session of the Conference.
Candidates for the office of the ministry are
recommended by the Church in its Circuit and
District Synods, but they are formally ordained
by the hands of the pastorate. Quakers and
Plymouth Brethren renounce the theory of a
separated ministry, and rely for the spiritual
edification of their congregations upon the Spirit's
immediate ^^aptV/Aara, or gifts of teaching. " Thus
the ministry in their teaching is a perpetual
creation instead of a separated order." Metho-
dism can claim Scripture precedent for its doc-
trine of a separated ministry — a ministry which
ordains its own successors, and which maintains
the spiritual rule over the Churches. Methodism
can also claim Scripture justification for its
system of lay representation and co-operation in
all matters which the New Testament entrusts to

The Position of the Laity. 213

the di aeon ate. The distinction, however, between
presbyters and deacons is one of office, not of
order; but the distinction of office has Divine
sanction.

(2) The position of the laity is open to criticism.
— We have defended the Methodist Church in the
principle underlying its doctrine respecting the
clergy and the laity. We believe the principle to
be Scripturally justified and economically sound.
In the statements that follow there is no attemj)t
to change the fundamental constitution of
Methodism. We have no desire to see the parent
Methodist Church transformed into an ill-defined
ecclesiastical democracy. The Reform Movement,
which resulted in the United Methodist Free
Churches, taught us by a striking object-lesson
some consequences of democracy which we truly
deprecate. The Methodist form of Church
government — by maintaining the pastoral author-
ity as being final in all matters affecting minister-
ial status, and in pronouncing the Master's law on
proved transgressors, and at the same time by respect-
ing the rights of the laity in giving them a place
in Synod and Conference — is on the whole, to our
thinking, the most Scriptural, complete, and satis-
factory of all the ecclesiastical polities of Christen-
dom. Yet we are disposed to think that

214 The Position op the Laitt.

Methodism has carried a sound principle to two
correlative extremes.

a. The Autocracy of the Pastorate. The point
questioned here is not the authority, but the degree
of authority, that should be vested in the pastor-
ate. If, as we have admitted, the pastors are the
chief rulers in the Church, then they must possess
suflGLcient power to rule efficiently; that is, to
execute the law of the Church. Moreover, the
efficient ruler must possess more authority than is
required for the government of the Church in its
normal condition. He must be vested with power
to deal with extraordinary cases and conditions.
The faithful are not restrained by righteous laws ;
their own good principles keep them in the right.
Law simply permits them to live in that element
in which they would live. Only the unrighteous
rebel against just law, because it compels them to
live in that element in which they would not be.
^' The law is not made for a righteous man,^ but
for the lawless and unruly." It is well, therefore,
that the pastorate should be vested with power to
suppress the lawless and anarchical elements in the
Church. This is essential for the preservation of
peace and prosperity. But whether the Methodist

* 1 Tim. 1, 9, 5t/catV vSixos oh Ke?Tai=the law lieth not upon
the righteous.

The Position of the Laity. 215

polity is equally wise in the degree of authority
entrusted to the pastorate is quite another ques-
tion.

The Superintendent of a Methodist circuit may
act despotically. In his official capacity, in rela-
tion to his colleagues, it is not quite correct to
describe a Superintendent as primus inter pares, but
rather as Pontifex maximus, ]N^early every officer in
Methodism must be nominated by the circuit
Superintendent, and no scheme of aggressive
Christian work can be launched without his
approval. This possession of power is a snare to
men of a certain mental and ethical type, and
tempts them into an ecclesiastical diplomacy
which is intolerable to sincere laymen, and
subversive of the highest interests of the Church.
It seems a defect in the economy of Methodism
that every circuit enterprise, however wise and
necessary in the view of the majority of members,
may be thwarted or vetoed by one man, whose
residence in the circuit is only temporary, and
whose judgment must be always more or less
fallible. It is true that Methodism has provided
a series of checks to the abuse of a Superin-
tendent's power, and the members have the right
of appeal to Synod and Conference. The question
here, however, is not the use or the abuse which

216 The Position of the Laity.

the pastorate makes of its authority. If Methodist
ministers are wiser in practice than in theory, so
much the better for the Church and so much the
worse for its polity. We think the Methodist
Church has reserved some power to the pastorate
which the New Testament Church accorded to
the laity. In the case of Matthias and of the
seven deacons, " the initiative as regards choice
lay with the members of the Christian community
as a body.""^

p. The Exclusion of the Members. It may be
said that though the presiding minister nominates
he does not elect circuit officers. This is true ;
but in no case is the electorate the whole Church.
Each body of officers has power to elect its own
successors and to fill up vacancies in its own
ranks. Methodist elections often move in a circle.
Nearly all officers nominated by the presiding
minister are appointed by the vote of those who
themselves were similarly nominated. The point
we question here is not the system of election by
majorities, nor the exclusion of the members from
some official meetings, but the absolute lack of
provision for submitting a single nomination or a
single question to the whole membership of the
Church. This is sometimes productive of dis-
* Bannerman, Script. Boot, of the Church, p. 538.

The Position of the Laity. 217

content, and is out of harmony with New Testa-
ment precedent and primitive Church usage.
"On no point is the testimony of the patristic
writers of the first three centuries more unani-
mous than on this, that from the time of the
Apostles, the members of every Church had the
right of a free choice — or, at the very least, a
substantial voice — in the appointment of their
office-bearers." "^

What readjustments in Methodism would be
necessary to secure some direct representation of
the whole membership it is not our purpose to
discuss. The desirability of some such readjust-
ments is all that concerns us here. Methodists
accept the monarchical rather than the republican
type of Church government, and the suggestions
made above are quite consistent with this form of
administration. The Government of England is-
monarchical, but the election of Members of
Parliament is by the whole enfranchised popula-
tion. The monarchical Government of England
is not weakened by becoming more and more
democratic. Modern progress is towards demo-
cracy, only we must be careful lest democracy
should spell anarchy. The State that guards
most securely the prerogatives of its legislators,

* Bannerman, Script. Doct. of the Churchy p. 538.

218 The Position of the Laity.

and protects most jealously the liberties of its
subjects, will be the most truly progressive and
prosperous State. And the Church that holds
the balance most justly between the Scriptural
rights of the clergy and the equally Divine rights
of the laity will be the Church of the future.

VI.
CHURCH AND 5TATE.

CHURCH AND STATE.

Part I.
HISTORY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT.

In one respect this is a political question, but
Nonconformists are not responsible for the fact.
It is not mainly with the political aspect of the
subject that we purpose to deal, but chiefly with
the religious problems involved. But why should
Dissenters interfere with the status of a Church
whose adherents are satisfied with the political
alliance? We give the following summary
answer : some of the points will be developed more
fully as we proceed. (1) The Anglican Church is
largely supported by endowments which belong to
the whole nation ; Nonconformists are responsible
citizens, and therefore have a right to be heard in
the distribution of national wealth. (2) If the
Anglican be the national Church, Dissenters are
by compact members of it, and therefore have a
right to speak in the government of the Church.
(3) The Eeformed Church of England was esta-

222 Chijech and State.

blished as distinctively a Protestant Church, and
as such has been maintained by the nation ; if the
heads of the Church with the concurrence or
connivance of Parliament permit a system of
Eomanising within its pale, all the subjects in
these realms have an equal right to protest. (4)
A State Church sets up distinctions, privileges,
and monopolies which are subversive of justice
and religious equality. (5) The Crown assumes
responsibilities in connection with the doctrine and
discipline of the Church, which derogate the
supremacy of Christ and bind the consciences of
men. (6) The Church must not take its model
from political kingdoms, but political kingdoms
are to get their pattern from the Church. (7)
The genius of Christianity is faith in the Unseen,
reliance upon spiritual force, and propagation
through the persuasive passion of love ; not repose
upon political buttresses and conquest through
physical power. "Not as among the Jews and
Gentiles shall it be among you."

I.— Types of Church and State Relationship.

One of the most difficult problems of the
historian is to trace and define the exact relation-
ship which has existed between the Church and
the State through the centuries. In tracing the

HiSTOEY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT. 228

barest outline we may indicate the following
types :

1, Mutual Equality.

Prom the very nature of things this position
was of the most temporary character. It was
attempted, however, at that point of Eoman
history when the ecclesiastical power rivalled the
imperial. It was the period of transition when
the Church was rising from subjection to the
State to dominate princes and governments. The
climax was reached on Christmas Day, 800, when
Pope Leo III. crowned Charlemagne emperor of
the revived Western Empire, or, as it was now
called, the " Holy Eoman Empire." This trans-
action indicated that these two parties intended to
divide the government of the world between them.
Whatever the Emperor did in political affairs the
Pope would sanction, and whatever the Pope did
in religious matters the Emperor would ratify.
This strange compromise was a great failure ; it
was impossible to decide what powers were
reserved to the Emperor, and what belonged to
the Pope. Disputes soon arose and were inter-
minable. But up to the beginning of the nine-
teenth century the mockery of the dual sovereignty,
involved in this mutual-equality alliance, was kept

224 Church and State.

alive. In 1806, as a result of the mighty
campaigns of Napoleon, the title was dropped,
"and thus the ^Holy Roman Empire' came to
an end a thousand and six years after the corona-
tion of Charlemagne, and eighteen hundred and
fifty-eight years after Csesar had conquered at
Pharsalia."

2. Supremacy op the Church.

The Latin Church derived its ideal of govern-
ment from the early Roman Empire. The
magistrate was both ruler and priest. The sword
gave him power over the material, and religion
gave him dominion over the spiritual interests
of men. The chief ruler was the high priest,
hence the Emperor was Pontifex Maximus. The
Emperors bore this title until the time of
Theodosius the Christian (346-395). From this
time the bishops of Rome gained greater influence
in the State. Theodosius issued a decree which
declared the Mcene Creed the only true ana
Catholic Confession. He summoned the Synod of
Constantinople, which confirmed the Nicene Creed
and added the clauses respecting the Holy Spirit.
Leo I. (440-461) was not slow to take advantage
of the Church's opportunity, and he was the first
to assume officially the title of " Pope " or Pontifex

tm«tu»nMrmm

History op the Establishment. 225

Maximus, in imitation of the Emperors who united
and exercised civil and religious functions. The fall
of the Roman Empire was one cause of the rise of
the priestly empire. Upon the ruins of the old
civilisation the Church built up a hierarchy, a
scheme of doctrine and a form of power, which
remained unshaken for more than a thousand
years. It has always been the policy of the Latin
Church to cultivate the assistance of the civil
power. And ever since Constantine (306-337)
declared Christianity the religion of the Roman
Empire, the Church has employed the arm of the
law to enforce her doctrines and polity. The ideal
of the Roman Catholic Church is that the Pope
should have universal dominion, not only over the
Church, but over the temporal affairs of the
nations, at least those kingdoms professing the
Roman Catholic faith. This statement is abun-
dantly illustrated in the history of Hildebrand
(Pope Gregory VII., 1073-1085). By sheer deter-
mination and unscrupulous methods, he brought
both Church and State to his feet. No incident is
more humiliating than that of Henry TV. of
Germany, clad in sackcloth, with bare feet, and
ashes on his head, waiting three days in the court-
yard at Canossa for the Pope's absolution. In
those days the State was excluded from any

J 5

226 Church and State.

authority in ecclesiastical affairs. Neither
Prince nor councillor could appoint to an
ecclesiastical oflS.ce, and the authority of the
Vatican conclave was supreme. Innocent
III. (1198-1216) was not satisfied with spiritual
power, he attempted to render that power an
instrument for the subjugation of Europe to a
humiliating subserviency. The principle of the
Papacy he expressed by a parallel already drawn
by Gregory YII., that "as God created two
luminaries, one superior for the day, and the other
inferior for the night, which last owes its splendour
entirely to the first, so He has disposed that the
regal dignity should be but a reflection of the
papal authority, and entirely subordinate to it."^

3. Supremacy op the State.

The interference of the civil power in matters
of religion did not begin with Csesar's Empire and
the Eomish Church. The ancient pagan princes
^^ accounted it a most important part of their
function to suppress all religions supposed to be
false, and to uphold the religion supposed to be
true. In the discharge of this supposed duty,
their great instrument was the sword.'^ In the
early and middle ages, religion was the instrument

* Knight's England, Vol. II., p. 3S7.

HiSTOET OF THE ESTABLISHMENT. 227

by which some sovereigns endeavoured to bring
both mind and body into subjection to their sway.
It is even more true that during the same periods,
the Popes, as we have seen, were using the civil
power to extend the influence and authority of
the Church. From Augustine of Canterbury to
Henry YIII. England was dominated by the Pope
of Eome, and the Church in England, as Dean
Hook confesses, was " only a branch of the
Church of Rome." The Reformation shifted the
head of the Church from Rome to London, from
the Pope to the King. Perhaps the nation did
not act altogether unwisely in accepting the King
as head of the Church. In the momentous crisis
of throwing off the Roman yoke, nothing but the
strongest authority could have saved the Church
in England from hopeless confusion. But it never
should have been a permanent arrangement. The
subjection of the Church to the Crown was too
extreme and abject. To make the civil court the
final seat of authority in matters of doctrine and
discipline was a violation of New Testament
teaching and a negation of voluntary religious
convictions. On this ground we contend that
when the Church put her head under the heel of
Henry YIII. she went out of the true Apostolical
succession. The English Dissenters, by refusing

228 Chttech and State.

to submit to a State religion^ remained in that
succession, and thej^ not Episcopal Churclimen,
are the most faithful and legitimate successors of
the Apostles. After the Restoration the old
Romish type of tyranny was again introduced.
In 1662 the execrable Act of Uniformity was
passed^ which enjoined upon all ministers the
use of the Book of Common Prayer on pain of
forfeiture of their livings. Then followed one of
the most glorious events in the history of England.
Rather than violate the law of conscience and
stifle the voice of religious liberty, two thousand
heroic clergymen marched out of the Establish-
ment in the name of God and freedom. These
were the first Nonconformists. Among them were
many cultured and godly men — John Howe,
Baxter, Flavel, Philip Henry, and Bartholomew
Wesley, the great-grandfather of the founder of
Methodism. The word Nonconformist soon became
of wider signification ; it was applied to the
members of all religious sects in England and
Wales who were not members of the Church of
England. Thus the word became synonymous
with Dissenters. Strictly, a Nonconformist is one
who refuses to conform to the doctrines and polity
contained in the Book of Common Prayer; a
Dissenter is one who dissents from a Church

wmmmmm

History of the Establishment. 229

established and endowed by law. The former has
chiefly a religious and the latter chiefly a political
basis. Hence the modern Free Churches are both
nonconforming and dissenting Churches.

4. Recipeocal Independence of Church and
State.

This position is a via media between the two
extremes— the supremacy of the Church as claimed
by Eomanists, and the supremacy of the State as
accepted by Anglicans. Both are extremes, and
extremes are always untenable. The former — the
ideal of Eomanism — has for centuries been the
cause of perpetual conflicts, full of confusion and
misery. It hopelessly failed, and it now stands in
history as a ghastly spectre from the past. The
latter — the ideal of the Reformed Churches — has
proved ill-suited to the strongest demands of the
Church, incapable of satisfying her deepest
impulses, and suppressive of her spontaneous
efforts. It has been " driven into much com-
promising, remodelling, and patching up, probably
as a preliminary to its entire abandonment." The
position we advocate is equally opposed to the
Erastian Broad Church theory, viz., that the
Church is co-extensive with the State, the Church
and the world are identical, and the clergy are

230 Chuech and State.

simply a branch of the civil service. This theory
denies to the Church any power to make laws or
decrees, or to inflict penalties of. any kind; it
relegates to the State supremacy in ecclesiastical
as in all other causes. Consequently the Church
has no right to exclude any one from its
ordinances, or to inflict excommunication. The
Free Churches, basing their belief upon New
Testament precept and practice, maintain a very
different view, and, in opposition to the above, this
may be stated in a twofold form. (1) The New
Testament differentiates between the Church and
the world, the company of the called out and the
aliens to the Christian commonwealth. These are
represented as direct antagonists, between whom
reconciliation can never be effected. " What
fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteous-
ness, and what communion hath light with
darkness?" (2) The New Testament enjoins upon
Christians obedience to magistrates in civil and
political affairs, but commands the Church to
exercise autonomy in matters of doctrine and
discipline. The writer to the Hebrews expressly
commands the Christian community to obey the
presidents of the Church : " Obey your leaders,
and yield to them."^

* Heb. xiii. 17 — irfiOeffOf ro7s rjyovufvois ifxtoy koI virdKtrf.

History op the Establishment. 231

The position of reciprocal independence of
Church and State in practical form is best seen in
the United States of America. The principle,
however, was not carried across the Atlantic by
the Puritans ; they established a State-religion no
less tyrannical than that left in their native
country. The Free Churches of America are the
natural results of a free people with free political
institutions. In the Constitution of the Union the
entire freedom of religion was secured by the
provision that " Congress should make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof." American
and colonial dignitaries of the Anglican Church
have frankly admitted that the conditions of an
unestablished and unendowed Church are not " a
disadvantage to the spiritual well-being and
prosperity of the Church herself." Surely, then,
the same conditions would not be injurious to the
Church at home, where the adherents are so much
more numerous and the resources so much greater
than in the United States and the British colonies.

II.— The State-Churoh is ComparatlYely a
Modern Invention.

The principle of a State-Church, as seen in the
Episcopal Church of England and the Presbyterian

232 Chuech and State.

Church of Scotland, cannot claim the support of
great antiquity. It is in some respects unlike all
the relations between Church and State which
existed before the Eeformation.

1. No True Analogy in the Hebrew Common-
wealth.

The struggles of priests and prophets were not
for the political establishment of religion. The
priests wanted supreme power — a hierarchy to
govern the nation. The prophets wanted, not a
human monarchy to rule the Church, but a
Theocracy — the government of both Church and
State by God. Ideally there was to be no distinc-
tion between civil and religious institutions. God
was King, Salem was His palace, and the Temple
was His throne. The Church and State were so
closely identified that sins against the one were
sins against the other. The judge could be also
priest, as in the case of Eli and Samuel. The
government under the kings preserved the
theocratic principle. The Lord revealed His pur-
pose to the kings through prophets. All the
affairs of the nation were still under direct Divine
superintendence, and the kingdom prospered as it
obeyed God. Under the Israelitish covenant
Church and State were not two separate and

History of the Establishment. 233

independent institutions, nor was one a branch of,
and therefore subordinate to, the other. The two
were blended in the theocracy, and equally
governed " according to the word of the Lord."

It is important to emphasize our position in
this connection. Both Eomanists and Broad
Churchmen attempt to justify their respective
claims from the condition of affairs under the
Jewish dispensation. The former extol the priest-
hood to a position of exaggerated authority ; the
latter extend the monarchy in a manner foreign to
the later Scriptures. , The reply to both is at
hand. (1) The Jewish priests never had the
power to change the public face of religion, much
less to regulate purely secular affairs. This power
was always vested in the king, who was supposed
to represent God and enforce His statutes. What-
ever was done in civil and ecclesiastical matters
was consistently denoted as the deed of the king.
The priests never possessed this authority, even in
purely religious matters. This is a sufficient
answer to Romanists who would base their doctrine
of priesthood upon the Jewish hierarchy. This
presentation of the position, however, may seem to
support Hooker and later Broad Churchmen in their
contention that the Church and State are co-exten-
sive, and are rightly subject to the king as defender

234 Church and State.

and head. Our reply is based on Scripture. (2)
The New Testament separates the Church from
the State, and forbids the civil authority to inter-
fere in its purely spiritual interests. Christ
founded His Church upon ^' the apostles and
prophets,'* not upon priests and kings. His
people were called out from among the worldly ;
as citizens they were enjoined ^'to obey magis-
trates," as Christians they were '^ called unto
liberty," and both relationships were expressed in
the Apostolic injunction : " Fear God. Honour the
king." The Society of Jesus was to be per-
petuated by the force of persuasion, not by the
power of the sword. The Christian Church, as
a spiritual commonwealth, was not to be subject
to the " kings of the Gentiles," but to those who
by the Christian Society were appointed to rule.
These were presbyters and deacons, the under-
shepherds and overseers, Christ being the chief
" Shepherd and Bishop " of souls.

2. IsTo Parallel in the States of Antiquity.

The religions of pagan States were essentially
national. They formed an integral part of
political institutions. Eeligion and politics could
not be separate factors because the individual was
not distinguished from society. Eeligion did not

History of the Establishment. 235

appeal to man as man, it did not become incarnate
in individual life. The laws of religion corre-
sponded exactly with the laws of the State ; they
were formulated and administered by the same
authority. The distinction between the spiritual
and temporal was unknown to the nations of the
ancient world. The unity of man and society was
universally taken as the basis of all government.
Conflict between Church and State was impossible;
they had no separate claims, and consequently
could not wrangle about them. In Greece and
Rome the individual was absorbed in the State.
The gods were tribal or national. Eeligion took
the form which was ordered by the Senate, and
not the form which resulted from the spontaneous
worship of the individual soul. Man had a purely
military and political value. Conscience had not
yet emerged from the darkness of ancient despot-
ism ; man had not yet come to his true inheritance.
Many centuries were yet to pass before there
could be developed the differentiation of the
individual from the multitude, and the claims of
the conscience from the demands of the State. So
in the early Saxon days of England. '^The
Church and the nation were absolutely the same ;
the king and his Witan dealt with ecclesiastical
questions and disposed of ecclesiastical offices by

236 CnrECH and State.

the same right by which they dealt with temporal
questions and disposed of temporal offices. The
Bishop and the Ealdorman^ each appointed by the
same authority, presided jointly in the assembly
of the shire, and the assembly over which
they presided dealt freely both with eccle-
siastical and with temporal causes."^ In
Palestine and Greece, in Alexandria and Rome, in
Scandinavia and Britain, the rights of man as an
independent and responsible religious being were
long suppressed under the systems of despotism
and feudalism. But when man accepted and
understood Christianity, he began to distinguish
himself from society, and at the same time he
began to distinguish religion from politics. With
the origin of this distinction began the conflict
between Church and State, conscience and law,
and modern history is, in great part, the record of
this struggle.

3. Unknown to Medieval Christianity.

No argument is necessary to show that the first
congregations of Christians were entirely separate
from political institutions. The early Christians
were not only unestablished by the State,
they were not even protected by it. They were

• Freeman, Qrowth of the English Constitution, p. 77.

History of the Establishment. 237

maliciously attacked by enemies, and magistrates
connived at the persecution. Indeed, many of the
early massacres were instigated by the Emperors or
their abettors, and perpetrated by the sword of
State. The first general persecution of Christians
under !N"ero at Rome in 64 affords an illustration.
The Senate hated the Christian community, and
longed for some ground upon which to convict and
condemn the growing Church. The terrible fire
which destroyed a large part of the imperial city
gave the Emperor and his Senators the desired
opportunity. Tacitus says that Nero falsely
charged the Christians with the crime, and
Juvenal tells of the horrors which followed :

At the stake they shine,
Who stand with throat transfixed and smoke and burn.

Attired as a charioteer^ Nero drove about en-
couraging the persecutors, while his pagan sub-
jects shouted with delight.^

As the Church survived each persecution and
grew in spite of all opposition, it gradually gained
more favour with the ruling classes. At first the
Society of Jesus was composed almost entirely of
plebeians, but some of the patrician families were
early influenced by Christianity. Naturally these

* Uhlhorn, Conflict of Christianity, pp. 241-250,

238 Church and State.

nobles secured for the Church a better social and
political standing. This process went on until
the Church became as powerful as the State, and
a compromise or alliance was made which, in some
form, has remained to the present time. The
important fact, however, for us to notice is that
the Romish Church in the Middle Ages was never
the willing tool of the State. The State was
rather the convenient arm of the Church. " We
must needs allow that if the Catholic Church have
but too much employed the State for the realisa-
tion of her own ends, yet she has never allowed
herself to be absorbed by the State. She has,
indeed, very unfortunately, borrowed force and
majesty therefrom ; still more disastrously has she
called the arms of flesh of the State to assist her
own violent measures ; but we must do her this
justice, she has never known servitude, never
given up her independence as the price of the
favours shown her."^

4. Propeelt Dates teom the Sixteenth
Century.

Until the Reformation the Church never recog-
nised the State as its head. But when the great
separation from Roman Catholicism took place

* Vinet, Outlines of Philosophy and Literature, pp. 35], 352.

History of the Establishment. 239

the Eeformed communities, having lost their
former papal head, were necessitated to find
another. There were two alternatives before
them, either to accept the firm protection of the
Government, with the sovereign as their head,
or to throw themselves upon the uncertain
democracy, with the majority as soveieign and
head. The Eeformed Churches on the Continent
and in England preferred the former alternative,
virtually making the king a bishop, and the
Parliament an ecclesiastical synod. No doubt the
view of both Luther and Calvin was that the
Church should stand free and self-governing
under the protection of the State. But this view
was impracticable at the time. The Eeformers
had broken from the old Church-moorings, and in
self-defence they were compelled to seek the
protection of the secular authority. They could
not entrust their cause to the people : the conse-
quences of such a course were strikingly revealed
in the disastrous Peasants' War which spread over
Germany in 1525. They had but one course open,
viz., to appeal to the civil ruler. This inevitably
meant that the maxim, Gujus regio, ejus religio
("Whoever rules in the State has the say in
religion"), would become the established rule.
The Eeformation took place in England in a

240 Church and State.

manner somewhat different from that on the
Continent. In Grermany it began from below —
the people ; in England it started from above — the
king. But in both cases the supremacy of the
State was firmly established as the principle of
the relation between Church and State.

Since the sixteenth century various theories of
State-religion have been advocated. Hobbes and
Hume^ following Spinoza, relegated religion to
the civil government. The practical issue of their
teaching would enslave the Church in a material-
istic Erastianism. It is not without significance
that materialists and fatalists have generally
supported a State religion, no doubt from
economic and utilitarian principles. But any
political attempt to nationalise religion ignores
the fundamental duality of man and society. To
establish and endow a system of national religion
is to affix to the spiritual needs of man the seal of
spiritual death. Lamennais, the celebrated French
writer on religion and politics, started as an
Ultramontanist, but afterwards became a political
democrat and a religious socialist. To secure the
perfect freedom of religion he demanded to have
it separated from the State and rebuilt on
completely democratic principles. He wavered
between according to the Church the support

HiSTOET OF THE ESTABLISHMENT. 241

of the state and submitting religion to the
support of the people. Both alternatives were
wrong in the theory of Lamennais. The Church
should not be governed by the secular authority,
and no particular system of doctrine and polity
should be endowed by the State. Nor should the
Church entrust the sacred interests of religion to
the caprice of a promiscuous majority of the
people.

III.— Inconsistencies of Protestantism in Accept-
ing State-Control.

1. It Violated a Principle which Gave It
Momentum.

We have shown that the rights of the individual
were not recognised in ancient times, and the
demands of the conscience were not respected in
Eoraan Catholic States. The individual had a
value only as a social and military factor ; he was
expected to surrender his life for the protection of
the Empire. And the soul was an ecclesiastical
commodity to be bought and sold by the
emissaries of the Vatican. The principle of the
Eeformation was to free the individual from State
slavery and to liberate the conscience from
religious tyranny. Protestantism professed to
consecrate the principle of individuality, and

16

242 Church and State.

pledged itself to a religious republic. Its loudest
voice was in defence of liberty. But, when the
Eeformed Churches threw off an ecclesiastical
yoke and accepted a legal bondage, they infringed
and degraded a fundamental principle on the very
threshold of announcing it. In submitting to the
secular prince as head of the Church, Protestantism
fell back upon a system which led it to separate
from Romanism. The Eomish hierarchy was
" massive, inarticulate, material, dead," and the
Reformers refused to yield their consciences to
this lifeless and corrupt ecclesiastical unity.
Protestantism promised to open a channel in
which the individuality of soul and reason,
oppressed under the accumulated prejudices of
ages, might go forth in unfettered spiritual
freedom. The Reformation awakened the soul to
a sense of its personality and individual responsi-
bility, and consequently it was a revolt against
the ecclesiastical and doctrinal bondage of the
papal regime. But, in submitting the creed and
discipline of the Church to the State, Protes-
tantism re-enslaved the individual conscience
which it professed to liberate. If the unity of
ecclesiasticism could not supply the soul with
spiritual food, how could the unity of the State
meet the demand? Surely there is as much

History of the Establishment. 243

religion in an ecclesiastical system as in a
political! Each alternative is inconsistent with
the basal principle of Protestantism. Probably, of
the two evils^ the Reformers chose the lesser,
inasmuch as ecclesiastical tyranny is worse than
political.

2. It Ignored its Divine Credentials.

The Church should represent on earth the
triumph of spirit over matter, the independence of
the individual in religious convictions. Unless
the Church can say, " My kingdom is not of this
world," it is not a faithful embodiment of
Christ's teaching. The office of the Church is to
ennoble life, beginning with the individual and
permeating all society. The Church is to leaven
the State, not to be governed by it; the Church
is a State within a State — a true imjperium in
imperio — not antagonistic, but seeking its highest
good. But when the secular State usurps
authority over the spiritual State, there follows a
weakening of religious convictions, a deadening of
spiritual needs, a stifling of conscience, and a
distaste for worship. Such must be the condition
of religion when it surrenders its Divine indepen-
dence. The essential credential of the Church is
that the Holy Spirit, acting directly upon the

244 Church and State.

individual soul^ will direct the life into Truth. In
the case of a State Church the secular authority
undertakes to decide what the members shall
believe. Mark the anomaly. The State restrain-
ing individuality in the sphere where individuality
ought to triumph ; an essentially secular authority
ordering an essentially spiritual society; law
regulating mind; matter ruling spirit. This viola-
tion of New Testament ideas involved in a State
Church means that religion is regarded as a
collective affair, that the nation, as such, has a
religion, that spiritual and temporal interests run
parallel, that worship is part of the civil service,
that men must adhere to the official religion, and,
nolens volens, support the doctrinal formulas and
ecclesiastical polity promulgated by the State.
All this is false, palpably and ignominiously false.
Strictly speaking, the State has not, and cannot
establish religion ; it is only the phantom and form
that is established. Eeligion is a matter of the
inner life, and is beyond the jurisdiction of magis-
trates. The State may regulate the forms in.
which the inner life shall express itseK. Even
this is unnatural and irrational. Religion, for its
true development, must have freedom to express
itself according to the dictates of an enlightened
conscience. The duty of the State is not even to

History of the Establishment. 245

regulate the forms of religious opinions, but so to
protect the liberty of all religions that each shall
have free expression without infringing upon the
rights of the rest.

3. It Inevitably Adopted a Persecuting
Attitude.

The history of Christianity has been one of
incessant conflict. This conflict has arisen from
either necessary antagonism to, or unholy alliance
with, the civil power. "All the horrors in the
history of religious persecution, which have done
so much to make the history of religion itself
appear at times more like a piece of history from
the infernal regions than like anything human,
must be traced to this renewed confederacy
between the priest and the magistrate. Without
that, not a fact in the long story of those evil
deeds would have cast its disgrace upon our
faith." ^ The horrors of religious persecution on
the Continent were repeated in England in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The com-
pulsory submission to the Book of Common
Prayer in the reign of Edward YI. and Elizabeth
was an act of great injustice to Dissenters.
But the imposition of the Solemn League and

* Vaughan, English Nonconformity, p. 25.

246 Church and State.

Covenant in the time of Cromwell was no less
an injustice to Episcopalians. History shows
that any religious system that gains political
ascendency becomes dogmatical and tyrannical.
And there is nothing more terrible in the world
than the tyranny of dogmatism. " Every religion
protected from without will persecute, and perse-
cute, too, for an iota of theology, an atom of
metaphysics." The great revolutions of Europe
may be traced to the unscriptural relations
between the two inherently separate institutions
of Church and State. By allowing the physical
power of the State to supplant the spiritual
authority of the Church, both institutions have
been shamefully deluded and perverted. When
the civil power interferes with ecclesiastical
matters, is it from conviction? When the
judicial Bench punishes for some non-conformity
to Church rubric, is it from a sense of religious
justice? When the State manifests an utter in-
difference in respect to creed and practice, is it a
worthy head of the Church ? ^* To protect without
conviction is hypocrisy ; to persecute without con-
viction is to join violence to hypocrisy; to carry
on a fanatical com'se of action in a spirit of in-
difference is the part of a shameless Machiavellian-
ism. Now, how many times have Governments

History of the Establishment. 247

presented us with this spectacle ? or, rather, where
is it that thej have not presented it ? "

Why, then, do men, even the irreligious, main-
tain so strenuously an established religion ?
Because it is an attempt to fill up a vacant place
in the life. It is an inalienable element in man's
nature that he should possess religion or its form.
Multitudes want a religion, but not the religion.
The most convenient method of escaping the re-
ligion of Christ is to support a religion of the State.
Hence, materialists, sceptics, and free-thinkers of
every school will often defend a State-Church.
Sometimes they will even join bigoted ecclesiastics
in persecuting those whose consciences refuse to
submit and subscribe to Articles of Religion whose
chief authority is the law of the land.

4. Its Unifokmitt Checks Spontaneity.

There are two things respecting great ideas and
reforms : first, they originate in the individual,
not in the collective mind; and second, they
originate in a man's mind, " he knoweth not how."
Religion, like all great movements, must begin
with the individual and gradually spread through
society. It is here we discover one defect of
socialism. It proposes to do in the mass what can
be done only in the individual. It regards

248 Church and State.

society as antecedent to ideas and convic-
tions, and the collective mind is supposed to
impart inspiration to the particular. This is
precisely the principle involved in a State-religion.
When the Church in England transferred its
head from Pope Clement VII. to Henry VIII.,
" the Church became a mere department of his
Government, a mechanical apparatus, by which
he proposed to instil quietness, submissiveness,
industry, and good morals in general, into his
subjects, just as he distilled money from them by
means of the taxing machine."^ A Church so
constituted is necessarily dogmatic ; it cannot be
indefinite, colourless, all-comprehensive. To have
an establishment, something must be established.
The very statement of the case changes the problem
from the abstract to the concrete, from general to
particular, and from negative to positive. To con-
form to what is established may involve a violation
of personal convictions ; to refuse to conform in-
volves the ostracism of the nonconforming parties.
Christianity is a living organism, the characteristic
of life is growth, and to attain its highest form
growth must be free. Protestantism, by accepting
State-control, checked spiritual development by
forfeiting the essential spontaneity.

* RchafE-Herzog, Encycl., art. Church and State, Vol. I., p. 479.

VII.
CHURCH AND STATE.

CHURCH AND STATE.

Part II.
THE RATIONALE OF DISESTABLISHMENT.

In the foregoing Lecture we have given some
account of the history of the relation between
Church and State. The alliance entered into in
the sixteenth century was, perhaps, an inevitable
arrangement at that period, and a natural phase
in the evolution of the Christian Church. " No
spiritual principle is ever so new, and therefore so
alien to its environment, as at first it appears to
be. A new idea can only reveal itself in the
fulness of time, as the result of a process of his-
tory which has been preparing the minds of men
for its reception. Hence the character of the
civilisation amid which it presents itself can never
be altogether unfavourable to it. It would not
succeed at all, unless there was something in the
spirit of the time which affected even its opponents
and weakened their resistance.""^ In the light of

* Caird, The Evolution of Religion, Vol. II,, pp. 251, 252.

252 Church and State.

this philosophical principle we must regard the
legal establishment of religion in the sixteenth
century as not absolutely an enforced and un-
natural development. In the light of the same
principle we now proceed to show that the spirit
of the age — the environment — is no longer
favourable to the maintenance of religion by law,
that the genius of spirituality is to grow spon-
taneously from within, and not to be moulded by
mechanical means from without.

I.— Permanent State-Religion is an Impossi-
bility.

1. Conscience is Awakening to its Own
Independence.

In ancient times, as we have seen, there was a
collective faith, a religion of the masses. Men
were conscious of neither belief nor unbelief ;
they simply accepted what was provided. They
no more dreamed of departing from the nafcional
gods than of violating the national laws. They
were blindly led or driven with the multitude at
the caprice of king and Senate. This is largely the
case to-day in Roman Catholic countries, where
the people suffer themselves to be ruled by a
subtle priesthood. It is so in England in the
case of all who take their religious opinions from

The Rationale of Disestablishment. 258

the State. But a tremendous transformation is
now passing over the religious world, the issues
of which cannot be calculated. The mighty
investigations in science and philosophy are
pressing into the theological domain. Nothing
can now be taken for granted, not even Chris-
tianity. The number of so-called orthodox
believers is becoming less, indeed there are com-
paratively few unqualified believers. Faith is no
longer a legal commodity, and religion can no
more be reckoned among the exigencies of
political favour. The State can no more formulate
a man's religious creed, because he has been
enfranchised to think for himself. And with
freedom of thought there must be liberty to enjoy
religious convictions. The State has two alter-
natives : (1) Either to respect every man's religion
by establishing it by law ; in this case there would
be as many establishments as there are religious
opinions. (2) Or to respect every man's religion by
disestablishing it ; in this case there would be legal
impartiality and religious equality. The former
alternative is philosophically absurd and practically
impossible ; the latter is reasonable and inevitable.
The wave of Disestablishment has been moving
slowly, yet its movement shows that public
opinion is accumulating on its side. In 1869 the

254 Chtjech and State.

Protestant Episcopal Church in Ireland was dis-
established. The severance from the State has
been an unspeakable blessing to Protestantism in
that country. Wales has repeatedly put forth a
plea that its Church should be liberated from
alliance with the State. The vast majority of the
people are with the Free Churches ; public opinion
cannot allow these to suffer injustice much longer.
Scotland presents the strangest anomaly of the
kind to be found. There are three Presbyterian
Churches, the same in doctrine and polity, yet one
is established and endowed, while the other two
are allowed to exist as they are best able."^ In the
land beyond the Tweed public opinion must
shortly remove the one barrier to a united and
aggressive Presbyterianism. England will be the
last to yield to the law of religious freedom and
equality. There is an ancient conservatism,
encircled with wealth, prestige, and power, which
reluctantly parts with the smallest fraction of
inherited privilege, custom, right, or authority.

2. Secular Control is Antagonistic to the
Aggressive Spirit of Christianity.

No fact in the New Testament is more con-

* "While these pages are going through the press the Free and
the United Presbyterian Churches are consummating a union.

The Eationale op Disestablishment. 255

spicuous than the free life of the Spirit of God
breaking through all conventional barriers and
finding a home in a sphere from which the secular
power would exclude it. The Christian com-
munity is to wage a continuous warfare; it is
creative, aggressive, conquering. Its mission is
to overthrow every establishment of evil, to
disturb every false peace, and to dethrone every
idolatrous ruler. This holy purpose it cannot
accomplish in league with the secular authority.
Of necessity it must sometimes come into conflict
with the civil Government. There are times when
it is forced to fight against the injustices of the
State. This cannot be consistently done while
Church and State are allied. The alliance, there-
fore, can only be maintained while the Church
remains in a state of spiritual torpor, or cares
only for the ceremonial wrappings of religion.
Immediately the Church realises her true mission
of evangelising the masses, the clinging to
external forms will be relaxed, and the connection
with the State will lose its glamour. The sections
of Christendom which have made greatest progress
during the last century have been the free
sections. The gratifying progress of the Anglican
Episcopal Church during the past twenty-five
years has been due, not to the State-alliance, but

256 Church and State.

to the Christian zeal of some members, which
asserts an independence in spite of the Establish-
ment. The Church of Christ is to conquer the
world, not by the force of arms, for ^^ we do not
war according to the flesh (for the weapons of our
warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before
God to the casting down of strongholds)." The
course of the free Spirit of life will not follow
mechanical grooves, nor be restricted within
stereotyped boundaries. Wherever the attempt
has been made to limit the operations of the Spirit
to institutions, establishments, and well-arranged
mechanism, the Divine life has invariably been
found to languish and decay. In the New Testa-
ment Church the '^(apiayi.aTa ('^ grace-gifts ") were
bestowed, not according to human arrangements,
but in accordance with the self -determining action
of the Holy Spirit : " dividing to each one sever-
ally even as He will." There was no prescribed
form for the individual, and no contrivance of the
State to secure the choicest gifts of God. " Man's
highest attainment was accomplished dynamically,
not mechanically." This teaching raises the
problem of a State-Church from a mere ecclesias-
tical platform to a supreme moral issue. It is
not a question of expediency of organisation, but
of faithfulness to Divine commands. A State-

The Eationale op Disestablishment. 257

controlled Church is a violation of the genius and
spirit of Christianity.

3. An Established and Endowed Church Pre-
vents National Unity and Eeligious Equality.

The principle of mediaeval feudalism was in-
equality. We have inherited certain class dis-
tinctions and privileges of caste. But a great
turn has taken place in the current of civilisation.
Progress is now based upon the principle of
national unity and the equality of all citizens in
the eye of the law. The day of privilege is pass-
ings the day of equality of opportunity is dawn-
ing. The idea of national unity and of the equal
rights of all has taken possession of the mind
and has become an irresistible law of nature. The
principle of inequality is harmful to both the
privileged and the oppressed parties. The one is
certain to be arrogant and persecuting, and the
other is certain to be chagrined and envious.
Nothing less than a miracle can prevent pride on
the one side and revolt on the other. What is the
secret of this division of parties ? Not theological
opinion^ not social status, not intellectual acquire-
ments. These differences exist among Noncon-
formists, but without producing similar effects.
The real difference is the Establishment — one

17

258 Church and State.

section of the religious communitj exalted by
Parliament to the dignity of a State-Churchy with
distinguished patronage and lavish endowments.
Let us summarise the injustices involved. (1)
Special sanction and privileges are given by the
State to one Church, instead of dealing impartially
with all Churches. (2) The State-Church is sup-
ported by means of property which was originally
intended for the benefit of the whole community.

(3) By giving bishops seats in the House of Lords
all progressive and Free Church measures are
handicapped, because these spiritual lords almost
invariably vote against measures of reform.

(4) The cathedrals are national edifices, but Non-
conformist ministers cannot officiate in them, nor
take part in any great national religious observ-
ance or ceremony. (5) The Establishment gives
the Episcopal clergy the practical monopoly of
masterships of public schools, and the chaplain-
cies of institutions under Government control.
(6) The State-Church system has the effect, in
thousands of parishes, of compelling all Non-
conformist children to attend Church of England
schools ; no other public elementary schools being
allowed to exist."^

* Vide Tract published by the Liberation Society, " Estab-
lishment and Disestablishment."

The Eationale of Disestablishment. 259

While these injustices remain the establishment
of religion by law will continue a bar to national
unity and a peril to the commonwealth. Let the
Episcopal branch of the Protestant Church in
England be disentangled from State control^ and
these evils would altogether disappear^ or^ at least,
be reduced to insignificant proportions. Slowly
the State has conceded a few of the rights of
Nonconformists. These concessions began with
the Toleration Act of 1688, which granted liberty
of worship to all Nonconformists excepting
Roman Catholics and Unitarians. In 1778 the
Act was extended to Roman Catholics, and in
1813 to Unitarians. The repeal of the Test Act
and Corporation Act, in 1828, gave Dissenters
access to public offices and to Parliament. The
Registration and Marriage Acts of 1836, 1837,
and 1844, made the baptisms and marriages
performed by Nonconformist ministers valid
before the law. In 1854 the Reform Bill opened
the universities of Oxford and Cambridge to
Dissenters. In 1868 Church rates were abolished.
The Education Act of 1870 provided for the
establishment of Board Schools, supported by
State aid under popular management. The Burial
Laws Amendment Act of 1880 gave the right to
Nonconformists to conduct their own burial

260 Chuech and State,

services in churchyards. The new Marriage Act
of 1898 disposed of the necessary attendance of
registrars at Nonconformist marriages. Should
the Free Churches be satisfied with these con-
cessions ? Not for a moment. Such rights and
privileges as they have secured are the results of
their own determination, not the good-will of
their opponents. The root-evil still remains, and
Nonconformists will not be satisfied till this is
destroyed. We have attacked and demolished
some of the outworks of the religious Establish-
ment, we intend to press into the very citadel and
raze the State Church fabric to the ground.

4. The State Chuech must Ultimately
Decide between Identity and Sepaeation.

The conclusion here reached is the logical
sequence of the former sections. The pagan state
was capable of absorbing the whole man, the
individual was not recognised, and conscience had
not awakened. Eeligion entered naturally into
the State, or rather was included in the national
programme. The nation had a religion, not the
individual. But this identity of Church and State
became impossible when conscience discovered
itself and man realised his individuality. The
pagan cult provided for the protection of society

The Eationale op Disestablishment. 261

against the individual ; modern law is supposed to
provide for the protection of each against each,
and of one against all. This is one distinctly
Christian feature of our modern civilisation. The
distinction here involved, viz., betv^reen the
individual and the mass, the sacred and the
secular, spirit and matter, has already taken effect
morally. The partisans of a State religion are
compelled to admit the distinction between the
spiritual and temporal interests of life. The
vehicle of the one can never again become the
vehicle of the other. The identity of religious
and civil laws is possible under two conditions :
(1) A state of paganism, in which the individual
is not differentiated from society ; (2) A state of
perfection, in which all shall know the Lord,
" from the least to the greatest." Happily, we
have left the former state some centuries behind ;
unhappily, the latter is immeasurably beyond us.

If identity be impossible, what is the alter-
native ? The only justifiable course, it seems to
us, is separation. Some of the old High Church
school persist in advocating a middle course
called union. The attempts to unite Church and
State have resulted in much theological conflict
and great spu'itual paralysis. The so-called union
is a mere chimera. Certain chemical elements

262 Church and State.

will not unite to form a compound — ^there is no
chemical affinity. Church and State^ religion and
poHticSj spirit and matter, naturally repel, and not
attract, each other. They cannot be united, to
form a new compound, they lack inherent reci-
procity ; in a word, there is no spiritual affinity.
The relation of Church and State, therefore, is
not a union which is spontaneous and natural, but
an alliance which is forced and disastrous. The
State is governed by the majority, and the
majority is the world. In so far as the Church is
under State control, it, too, is governed by the
majority — that is, by the world. This compels
us to view the alliance not merely from a legal
standpoint, but from a moral point of view. The
Apostolic command applies as much to the
collective Church as to the individual member:
"Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers; for
what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity ?
or what communion hath light with darkness? And
what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what
portion hath a believer with an unbeliever ? And
what agreement hath a temple of God with idols?"

II.— Advantages of Disestablishment.

It is no part of our purpose to discuss the
methods by which Disestablishment is to be

The Eationale op Disestablishment. 263

accomplished. This belongs to the lawyer and
politician, not to the historian and theologian.
Our object is to present in the clearest manner
possible the rationale of Disestablishment. It will
help to clear the ground if in this place we briefly-
state some of the reforms asked for, and some of
the remedies brought forward.

(1) Reforms Demanded, — a. That Convocation
be reconstituted, making it representative by
the addition of the laity. yS. That Convo-
cation have administrative, as well as legislative
power; power to formulate reforms and to en-
force them in the Church. 7. That new dioceses
be created, with a corresponding number of
bishops at greatly reduced stipends. 8. That
the choice of bishops be by the Church or Con-
vocation, so abolishing the system of Conge d'elire*
e. That the laity have a voice in the appointment
of the clergy, so destroying the evils of
patronage and the traffic in livings, f. That the
entrance to the ministry be better guarded, and
adequate means be found for the removal of
unfit ministers, tj. That the bishops be no longer
ex-officio members of the House of Lords. 0, That
the Cathedral system be reorganised upon some
utilitarian principle. c. That ecclesiastical
revenues be redistributed so that curates receive

264 Church and State.

adequate remuneration^ and a competency pro-
vided for infirm and aged ministers, k. That small
adjacent parishes be united and the clergy relieved
of some of the liabilities involved in ecclesi-
astical fees^ rates, dilapidation of parsonages, &c.
X. That the Act of Submission of the Clergy be
repealed, also the Act of Dniformity. fx. That
the Book of Common Prayer be revised^ so as
to make it definitely Protestant, v. That the
Church have complete autonomy in matters of
doctrine and discipline. All these and other
reforms would be included in, or would follow
from, a comprehensive measure for the Disestab-
lishment and Disendowment of the Protestant
Episcopal Church of England.

(2) Remedies Suggested. — They are of three
types, a. That of the " Church Defence Insti-
tution." This society was founded in 1859
*^to assist in maintaining a national recogni-
tion of Christianity, and in conserving the en-
dowments provided by successive generations
for the worship of Almighty God." The mem-
bers of this institution aver totidem verbis that
they are determined to defend and perpetuate
the State Church as established and defined
at the Reformation. This is practically the
position of the so-caUed High Churchmen.

The Rationale of Disestablishment. 265

0. That of the " Church Eeform League." This
society attempts a moderate, but rather ideal,
state of ecclesiastical affairs. It does not ask
that the alliance of Church and State should
be annulled, but '^Hhat such alliance shall leave
the Church free to manage her own affairs in her
own way, subject only to the legitimate veto of
Parliament on all matters relating to the civil
rights of our citizens." This idea, however pleas-
ing to Episcopalians, would intensify the injustice
of the State toward Nonconformity. There is a
novel audacity in asking for all the privileges of
a free institution, while retaining all the endow-
ments and status of a National Church. But the
principle has now taken deep root in the English
mind that all institutions supported by public
money shall be under popular control. A State-
supported Church can no more claim to govern
itself than the Army or any branch of the civil
service can claim to govern themselves. The
object of the "Church Eeform League" is in
harmony with the view of the so-called Anglo-
Catholics. 7. That of the " Liberation Society.'*
The object of this Association is expressed in its
fuller title : '^ Society for the Liberation of Religion
from State-Patronage and Control." This is the
one " short cut " to reform, the real way to the

266 Chuech and State.

solution of our present ecclesiastical and religious
problems. There is a growing sentiment of justice
and equality in our midst which will be satisfied
onlj with the Disestablishment and Disendow-
ment of the Protestant Episcopal Church of
England. That Church must occupy the same
legal position as other religious bodies, and acquire
the same right of self-government as they have
always possessed. Then will religion in England
be raised from a position of ecclesiastical feudalism
and State-caste to a position of Christian liberty,
equality, fraternity.

I. Advantages to the State.

(1) The constitution of Parliament renders it unfit
to control the doctrine and discipline of the Church.
— The Anglican Church is supposed to be Pro-
testant, Trinitarian, and Episcopal. How does
the Government harmonise with this description ?
In the Legislature there are Presbyterians, Inde-
pendents, Unitarians, Jews, Eoman Catholics, and
even avowed unbehevers. Yet all these possess
equal rights, duties, and responsibilities in regard
to the government of the Established Church;
the situation is so grotesquely anomalous that
honest statesmen are disgusted, and conscientious
Churchmen are humiliated. The unity and zeal

The Eationale of Disestablishment. 267

necessary for ecclesiastical reform cannot exist in
such a religiously promiscuous company. Arch-
bishop Magee said : " The Cabinet is sick of all
Church questions, and hates the very idea of
Church Bills in the Commons. The result of this
false conservatism will be ecclesiastical revolution.""
The truth of this statement has been painfully
demonstrated during the last quarter of a century.
The fear of "ecclesiastical revolution" has ren-
dered nearly all attempts at reform feeble and
abortive. Forty-five years ago Mr. Gladstone
expressed to Bishop Wilberforce a principle, which
is becoming more and more apparent, that "no
good to the Church will come from Parliament ; it
must be developed from within." Moreover,
Parliament is overwhelmed with the secular affairs
of the Empire; it has no time to waste in sectarian
controversy. The business of the State should be
canducted upon broad Christian principles, not
upon narrow Denominational lines.

(2) Disestablishment would remove one of the chief
sources of national discord, — The late Dean
Vaughan deprecated Disestablishment, not so
much for the sake of the Church, but chiefly for
the sake of the State. He imagined serious loss
to our political and imperial life by Parliament
renouncing its control of the Church. But surely

268 Church and State.

the Disestablishment of a State Church is not
synonymous with the destruction of religion in the
State. Let those who question this statement
appeal for proof to America and the British
colonies. Probably the chief advantage to the
State that would result from Disestablishment
would be greater national unity. Free religions
never create different nations ; it is only when the
State patronises and extols^ flatters and endows
one Church section to the disadvantage and per-
secution of other sections that difficulties arise.
All the disagreeable ecclesiastical problems which
agitate the minds and waste the time of Members
of Parliament have been occasioned by the State
itself. The Government cannot maintain the
control and headship of the Church, and at the
same time shirk the responsibilities of the position.
Let Parliament, once for all, throw ofB these
responsibilities by allowing autonomy to the
Church in doctrine and discipline, and it will no
more be bewildered and distracted with bigoted
bishops and religious partisans. Again, it is
notorious that many measures which pass the
House of Commons — the representative House of
the nation — are distorted, invalidated, or even
rejected by the House of Lords — the unrepresen-
tative House of the nation. And it is proverbial

The Eationale of Disestablishment. 26^

that the most unprogressive and reactionary
section of the House of Lords is the Episcopal, or
ecclesiastical section. It would greatly facilitate
legislation if the bishops — who pretend to be the
only true successors of the Apostles — would give
less time to politics and more time to their
dioceses. Let them become in the true sense
^^overseers" of the Church after the Apostolic and
primitive model. It would perhaps be well for the
Church of Christ to be directly and officially
represented in Parliament ; this could be done by
each branch of the Church electing its own.
representative.

2. Advantages to the Chuech.

(1) The Church would have the poiver of self-
reform, — At present Church officials are bound
hand and foot. It is so inevitably. An Established
Church must be based upon a national authority.
The only national authority acknowledged in Eng-
land is the Crown and Parliament. This was dis-
tinctly recognised at the time of the Reformation.
There are three historical and political pillars upon
which the Established Church is reared: a. The
Act of the Submission of the Clergy. This Act was
passed in the reign of Henry VIIL, and by it the
government of the Church was transferred from

270 Church and State.

ecclesiastical to secular authority, and the alle-
giance of the clergy was transferred from the Pope
to the King. /3. The Act of the Supremacy of the
Crown. This, too, was passed in the time of
Henry VIII., and ratified in the reign of Eliza-
beth. By this Act the right of the laity, as
represented by Parliament, to govern the Church
was established. 7. The different Acts of Uni-
formity of Public Worship and Doctrine. These
were passed, with slight variations, in the reigns of
Henry YIII., Edward YI., Elizabeth, and Charles
II. By these Acts the Liturgy and Articles,
Discipline and Practice, which bound bishop and
clergy, were defined. These statutes prove con-
clusively that under present legal restraints
ecclesiastical dignitaries are absolutely power-
less to reform the Church. The bishops have
no authority to depart from the political bond,
and Convocation cannot change an iota of the
conditions upon which the clergy hold their
livings.

(2) The spiritual dynamic of the Church would he
greatly increased, — When a religion declares that
it needs the support of the Government it portrays
not only its own inherent weakness, but also its
lack of faith in God. It is asked what the Church
would have done without the aid of the State. We

The Rationale of Disestablishment. 271

answer, all the good it has done with that aid, and
much more. If challenged for proof, we refer to
the indisputable facts of history. The early
Church was not allied with the State, was it a life-
less, inefficient institution ? Let it never be for-
gotten that the Church as a pure spiritual force
conquered the Eoman world. That was the
greatest triumph of the Church since the day
of Pentecost. That triumph was achieved by
sheer moral influence, against strong prejudice
and political intrigue. If the Church, as
a free and independent religious institution,
could accomplish such a result in the fourth
century, what might it have accomplished through
the succeeding centuries, if it had not been check-
mated at every turn by political alliances and
secular complications ? We do not here approve
of the methods or results of Constantine's decrees
in favour of Christianity. But the symbol of his
religious reforms must still be the inspiration of
the Church. He tells us one day when the sun
was declining in the West, he saw a bright cross
upon the sun, and over it the inscription in letters
of light: TOTTIl NIKA ("By this sign conquer").
The true power of the Church is the lining pres-
ence of the Crucified Christ, not the cold and blight-
ing interference of an Act of Parliament. When

272 Church and State.

Christianity became the religion of the Roman
Empire and took the place in the life of the
State formerly occupied by heathenism, it became
corrupted and lost much of its Apostolic purity
and zeal. To regain its primitive sanctity and
power, it must renounce the unholy alliance with
the world. The spiritually enfranchised must not
be entangled with the spiritually unenfranchised.
"Come ye out from among them, and be ye
separate, saith the Lord."

The demand for religion is not first intellectual,
but psychical. But whatever is a demand of the
soul must be so guarded as to command the
respect of the intellect. No man will do homage to
religion if we *^ by a false combination make him
view religion as a political machine or sacerdotal
mancBuvre." The power of the Church separated
from the State will not become less, but different.
It will not be constraint, but persuasion. That
which gives Christianity strength and victory is
not arbitrary conformity to certain beliefs and
ritual, but the manner in which it presents the
truth. Truth needs not the support of a magis-
trate, it only needs faithful presentation. Men
are not made Christians by Act of Parliament,
but by conversion through repentance toward God
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Truth, pre-

The Rationale of Disestablishment. 273

sented by the Churchy as an independent per-
suasive force, will be immeasurably more likely
to reach the hearts and appeal to the minds of
men, than when conjoined with the political
regime.

Finally, the Church is a brotherhood of equals.
Jewish priestcraft and Gentile tyranny are alike
foreign to its spirit and mission. " Ye know that
the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and
their great ones exercise authority over them.
Not so shall it be among you." The Church, as a
spiritual institution, recognises no king but Christ.
Gaspard de Coligny avouched the Protestant cause
and became head of the Huguenot party in France
during the religious struggles of the sixteenth
century. He distinguished himself under Francis 1.,
and Henry II. made him admiral of France. In
1557 he defended the little town of Saint Quentin
against the Spaniards. One day the enemy shot
over the broken ramparts an arrow bearing a
strip of parchment with an inscription promising
the inhabitants, if they would surrender, their
lives and goods. In reply Coligny took a strip of
parchment and wrote upon it, Regem hah emus {'^ We
have a king ") ; he fixed it to a spear and threw
it into the camp of the enemy. This is our reply
to Romanists who ask us to surrender our

18

274 Church and State.

religious convictions to the Pope, and to
Anglicans who ask us to surrender our con-
sciences to the Crown. Begem hahemus — We
have a King: "for One is our Master, even
Christ."

VIII.
THE IDEA OF PROGRESS.

THE IDEA OF PROGRESS.

The superstitions respecting sea-monsters are
among the most fascinating and tenacious. The
naturalist Denis de Montfort affirmed that in the
Northern seas there were cuttle-fish compared
with which whales were mere pigmies. So
prodigious were their dimensions that when
m.otionless and half out of the water their bodies
looked like small islands in the midst of the ocean.
The old Scandinavian chronicles say that sailors,
deceived by these treacherous island-animals, have
been known to anchor their vessels on the flanks
of these monsters, land, kindle a fire and cook
their food on the bodies of these immense
creatures. Modern readers smile at the absurdity
of these old superstitions. Natural history has
rid itself of these monstrosities and fantastic
inventions of the early and middle centuries. The
same shedding of mythical accretions has taken
place in almost every branch of science and litera-
ture. Religious literature, however, has shown

278 The Idea of Peogeess.

a painful conservatism in this respect. The
Church still perpetuates a number of ancient
fables^ and Christian theology retains a consider-
able modicum of mediseval superstition. Christen-
dom needs a mighty ecclesiastical and doctrinal
ecdysis. In speaking of the Idea of Progress, we
first consider some General Grounds_, and next
some Particular Laws.

I.— General Grounds.

1. Peogeess is not in a Steaight Line.

Herbei-t Spencer says that rhythm,, or undulation,
is a law of motion. Motion is not in a straight
line, it ascends and descends. Motion would be
in a uniform straight line if there were only a
single body in space impelled by a single force.
In this case there would be no variety in life and
evolution would be impossible. There are contrary
forces in the universe, and motion is the resultant
of manifold energies. There are forces that build
up, and forces that tear down. This zig-zag
process is termed rhythm. The underlying
principle is one, the manifestations are many.
The law of rhythm is universal. We see its
operation in nature. The forces that cause the
earth to spring forth into new life and beauty in

The Idea op Progress. 279

summer, are counteracted by forces that produce
decay and chaos in winter. The same law is
apparent in nations. The agencies at work to
solidify and strengthen the political and imperial
status of a country are opposed by agencies which
tend to weaken and undermine the national
constitution. We see the principle at work in
society. The social and philanthropic institutions
which seek the amelioration of our domestic
sorrows and social burdens are checked by the
drinking, gambling, and other vices of the masses.
We find the same law at work in personal life.
The development of good habits is seriously
hindered by the obtrusion of evil habits. And
the Church is no exception to the general rule.
The persistent endeavour of the evangelical
section to purify the Church and make it more
efficient is largely stultified by the superstitious
rites introduced by the ritualistic section. In
all this there is no new principle, it is ever move-
ment amid conflicting forces. Progress is the
zig-zag resultant of variant and ever-developing
elements.

2. Permanent Elements and Different Mani-
festations.

There is an element of stability in the universe.

280 The Idea op Progress.

If nature were simply an accumulation of atoms,
or disjointed parts thrown into inter-action by
chance and held together by blind force, there could
be no world-order, no system of laws, no certainty
and regularity, no dependence upon a succession
of seasons and effects. All would be confusion,
entanglement, and meaningless happenings. But
such is the regularity or order of nature, the
unerring revolutions of star-worlds, that men com-
mit themselves confidently to nature's laws and
teachings, assured they will never be put thereby
to intellectual confusion. There is a permanent
element, too, in human nature which remains
amid all developments. There are characteristics
of childhood which have not changed since the
days of Cain and Abel. There are certain features
which have distinguished all men, and communi-
ties of men, through all the ages. There are per-
manent elements in society which remain staple
amid all reformation, and permanent elements in
nations which are undisturbed amid all revolution.
There is something in the universe for which the
theory of evolution cannot account, and which is
not subject to the law of development. The exist-
ence of permanent elements is the immovable
barrier between the great fundamental "king-
doms " of the world. The mineral remains

The Idea op Progress. 281

mineral; the plant remains plant; the animal
remains animal; man remains man. Failure to
grasp this doctrine has resulted in much unscien-
tific and godless rationalism. It is simply amus-
ing to see some of the philosophic tyros of our
country going about with the works of Darwin
under one arm, and the works of Haeckel under
the other^ loudly proclaiming their descent from
the orang-outang.

The permanent elements of nature, life, and
history manifest themselves in results, the external
form of which is decided by developing circum-
stances. Change, of appearance is not change of
nature, and the same cause is ever producing the
same effect, with possible variant expressions.
This is so in nature. The causes which produced
the rainbow upon which Noah fixed his eyes,
were at work in the production of the bow which
appeared upon yesterday's sky. But the rain-
bow does not always appear equally brilliant, this
depends upon local atmospheric conditions. So
in national history. National greed and pride,
intolerant oppression of the weak, deliberate
neglect of religion, licentious free-thought, and
general debauchery resulted in the overthrow of
Imperial Rome, and fifteen centuries later the
same causes resulted in the French Revolution.

282 The Idea op Progress.

But every revolution, though it be caused by similar
forces, does not necessarily manifest the same
complexion. This depends upon many conditions
of time and place. All this has its analogy in the
Church. Some writers are predicting another
Reformation. Their prediction is based upon two
facts : (1) The semper idem principle of Eomanism,
and (2) The instinctive demand for religious
liberty. There are forces at work in England,
sometimes under the Protestant name, which, if
unchecked, will bring this country once more
under the authority of the Pope. But there are
Puritan forces in England, perhaps in too many
cases slumbering, which will again effect a
Reformation as pronounced as that of the
sixteenth century. But every reformation of the
Church will be coloured by the local conditions
of civilisation and Christianity.

3. Motion is in the Direction op Least
Resistance.

This is scarcely a complete statement of the
direction of motion. There are forces of attraction
and repulsion, and motion consequently may be
said to have a threefold cause. Where attractive
forces alone are appreciable, motion is in the line
of greatest traction ; where repulsive forces alone

The Idea of Progress. 283

are appreciable, motion is in the line of least resist-
ance ; where both attractive and repulsive forces
are appreciable, motion is along the resultant of
all the tractions and resistances. "Strictly
speaking, this last is the sole law ; since by the
hypothesis, both forces are everywhere in action.""^
It is manifest that if the nature of the forces be
known, the direction of motion may be foretold.
This is not a law that affects physical phenomena
alone ; it is of universal application. After a
careful study of the forces at work in France, it
was not difficult for Burke to predict the French
Eevolution. The seeds of anarchy had been
widely sown in French society, the political
institutions were rotten, and a spirit of lawlessness
prevailed everywhere. There could be but one
result, the Revolution. On the same principle
Isaiah foretold the overthrow of Egypt and Moab.
He studied the forces at work, the trend of
history, and the nature of the issue was a foregone
fact. There are two fixed principles upon which
we may base our prophecies respecting individuals
and nations : (1) Sin will be punished, and (2)
Goodness will be rewarded.f These are siniple
statements , but they are fundamental truths . A deep

* Spencer, First Principles, pp. 225-7.

t G. A. Smith, The Booh of Isaiah, Vol. I., p. 373.

284 The Idea of Progress.

knowledge of history, a thorough grasp of national
habits, a profound acquaintance with human
nature, and a living faith in God will enable
modern seers to forecast the issues of the
momentous crises through which the nations are
passing to-day.

In transferring the principle to the Church it
will be sufficient to indicate its operation. The
two great forces in the religious world are Eoman-
ism and Protestantism. Both of these forces
are one-sided. Each expresses a phase of religion
which the other ignores. While they only
express partial Christianity neither can absolutely
supplant the other, and the antagonism must go on.
Romanism is too exclusively objective, and Pro-
testantism is too exclusively subjective. Dr. Caird
says that Romanism ^^is the necessary counter-
part and complement of Protestantism, opposing
the one-sidedness of matter without form to the
opposite one-sidedness of form without matter."
We do not accept this as a correct estimate of the
two systems under review. Doubtless there are
truths in the one system which are not sufficiently
emphasized in the other, and in so far as this is
true the one should learn from the other. But
the rock upon which Romanism and Protestantism
split is not '^form" or "matter," but authority.

The Idea of Progress. 285

" the seat of authority in religion." It is the
voice of the Church against the Word of Grod, the
infallibility of the Pope against the infallibility of
Christ. On which side is the stronger force ?
Which system has the greater resisting power?
Motion is in the line of greatest traction,
progress is along the line of least resistance.
Notwithstanding the modern revival of the Romish
propaganda in England_, and the ritualistic enthu-
siasm of a section of the Established Church,
there can be no doubt that the Protestant
sentiment immeasurably preponderates. And
when that sentiment is thoroughly aroused it will
make short work of the Rome-pampering bishops
and the treacherous Jesuitical j)i'iests.

4. Conservation of Principle is not Con-
servatism IN Method.

By the phrase " conservation of energy " we
understand that the sum-total of forces in the
universe can neither be increased nor diminished.
According to this doctrine there is no more force
in existence now than at the beginning of the
solar system, and there will be no more twenty
thousand ages hence. This persistent force may
be variously manifested, it may be dissipated in
one direction to appear in another. But the

286 The Idea of Progress.

quantity of force in the evolution and dissolution
of worlds and men remains unchanged. Yet this
conservation of force does not beget monotony or
uniformity in operation. It is not uniformity we
see in nature, but unity in variety ; not sameness
of effect, but permanence in change. The same
forces were at work in the formation of all the
stars, but each star shines with its own brilliance,
^' for one star diff ereth from another star in glory.'^
All flowers are produced by the same physical
conditions, but each flower unfolds according to its
own nature. The universe is a panorama of
wonders, yet the universe is one. So in national
and social life. No new principles of truth and
justice, compassion and honesty can be created,
but these unchangeable and eternal principles may
be made more effective by a wise national and
social polity. Lord Bacon, speaking of Robert
Cecil, the Earl of Salisbury of his day, said
he was a most fit man to keep things from
growing worse, but no very fit man to induce
things to be much better. This is a fair state-
ment of what is termed ^^conservatism.'' But
it is not enough to prevent things from be-
coming worse, it is equally important and im-
perative to seek to make things better. Progress
is not the creation of new forces or principles.

The Idea of Peogress. 287

but the directing of old forces and principles
into such new channels as the exigencies of the
age demand.

"Nor is the lesson different in the religious
history of mankind. Churches need many resur-
rections, many Pentecosts. An unprogressive
Church is a dying Church ; a retrogressive Church
is a dead Church." From ecclesiastical history it
is apparent that Christianity has been kept alive
by the periodic re-adaptation of New Testament
doctrines and principles. Athanasius revived old
truths and saved the Church in the fourth century.
St. Francis and St. Dominic re-introduced the
Gospel message and saved the Church in the
thirteenth century. Luther re-applied the teach-
ing of St. Paul and saved the Church in the
sixteenth century. Wesley revived evangelical
religion and saved the Church in the eighteenth
century. " Surely the lessons of these and many
other revivals is that we cannot, we may not, stand
still, may not sink into slothful self-satisfaction,
must be quick-eared to the continuous teachings
of God in history. The paradoxes of yesterday
become the commonplaces of to-day. At each
stage of God-appointed change men apprehend
newly the God who changes not.""^

* Farrar, Social and Present-Day Questions, p. 371.

288 The Idea of Progress.

Man is not God, but Latli God's end to serve,

Somewhat to cast off, somewhat to become.

Grant this, then man must pass from old to new.

From vain to real, from mistake to fact,

From what once seemed good to what now proves best.

How could man have progression otherwise ?

II.— Particular Laws.

1. Surrender of the Outgrown.

This law of progress is illustrated in the transi-
tion from heathenism to civilisation. Native
tribes in their progress toward light are con-
stantly giving up what they most cherish.
Heathenism in its primitive character is distin-
guished by an extravagant freedom, it knows no
law of legal or social restraint. There is doubt-
less a strange fascination about this wild life of
unbounded liberty. But without restraint there
can be no education, no advancement. When
scattered people are accumulated under a head or
chief J tribal restraints begin and unbridled licence
is held in check. With increasing tribal compli-
cations the restraining yoke chafes with propor-
tionate severity. The march toward civilisation is
marked by more complex and stringent laws.
Against this surrender of native liberty there is
an inevitable reaction. Here is the secret of
tribal rebellions and internecine hostility. There

The Idea of Progress. 289

is no escape from natural law ; savage races must
surrender their old and cherished customs and
possessions in the mighty march of national
development. So in the higher forms of civilisa-
tion the same law applies. Take the land ques-
tion. A few cling to the old system of absolute
ownership as essential to the maintenance of
humanising and dignified relations. We may
denounce the system on the ground of the hard-
ships and injustices which it imposes upon the
burdened tenantry. We may advocate the
nationalisation of the land and its distribution
among the worthy subjects of the State. But this
policy comes into collision with the ideal picture
of the benevolent landlord, hence it is opposed.
It is evident that if the land-allotment system
should triumph the great landed proprietors
would have to surrender much, in many cases that
which they most prize. No country has yet
attained its perfect or final system of government.
The best political system of to-day is but the
precursor of a better. A new national policy is
ever and anon called for, the old gets outgrown
and becomes a clog in the wheel of progress. The
introduction of each new civic era necessitates the
surrender of many time-honoured and cherished

forms.

19

290 The Idea of Progress.

The Church is no exception to the law of pro-
gress by surrender. The ideal of the Church of
Eome has been that all temporal and spiritual
power should be centred in the Pontiff. Who
can picture the condition of Europe had the
bishops of Eome preserved the mighty power of
which they had slowly possessed themselves ? In
the sixteenth century Romanism was compelled
to surrender her fondest hope. That Popedom
felt bitterly this giving up of power was
evident from the BuUs excommunicating Luther,
Henry VIII., and others who helped to break the
Papal chains. The Protestant religion which
resulted, however, was not a new Christianity,
nor even a new Church, but rather a new phase
in the development of the Christian Church in
the world. When the Eomanist asked : " Where
was your religion before the Reformation ? "
the Protestant replied : '^ Where was your face
before it was washed ? " It may be that the face
of Christianity will need washing many a time
yet. We have no authority for concluding that
Protestantism will be the final form of Christianity.
It may be that future reformations will change
the expression of the Church as palpably as
it was changed three hundred years ago. It is
already evident that the Anglican Church

The Idea op Progress. 291

must surrender a number of ecclesiastical
anomalies in order to come into line with New
Testament ideas and meet the just and devout
claims of the age. The dogmas of an unbroken
succession^ an essential hierarchy, a State Church, a
sacrificial Communion, a Eomish confessional, and
others, must be changed or relinquished. The real
truths underlying these dogmas must be stripped
of their traditional and superstitious encumbrances
and expressed in a Scriptural and common-sense
light. Nonconformity, too, must surrender in
order to advance. If any Free-Church institution,
form or custom, has been outgrown, let us not
foolishly bewail its surrender. If the tastes and
demands of the masses are no longer met by many
of the old methods, let the Free Churches strike
out into new paths and adopt a new policy in order
to attract and save them. If large numbers of
the educated young people are inclined to accept
broader views of the Scriptures, the Church, the
Sacraments, let not the Free Churches estrange
them by narrow doctrines and arbitrary decrees.
If all believers are New Testament " priests," and
equally entitled to share the responsibilities and
government of the Church, let no Nonconformist
ministry assume a superiority of rank and wrest
from the laity their Divine rights. Let me appeal to

292 The Idea op Progress.

Methodism in particular. If the three-years limit
to pastoral oversight in the same congregation be
found detrimental to the prosperity of any
Church, why not seek legislative authority to
abandon the crippling rule 9 If the autocracy
which the Conference invests in superintendent
ministers be found intolerable to progressive
Christian laymen, why doggedly preserve the
feudal relic P If the offices of Gonnexional funds
could be managed equally well or better by
experienced business laymen, why monopolise the
Departments by ministerial officers ? This enu-
meration need not be extended. The unhallowed
hankering after the " flesh pots " of Egypt is the
dark Nemesis over a considerable section of
Nonconformity. It is time for the Free Churches
to learn the law of progress by surrender, a law
expressed by St, Paul as he watched the Christian
Church rising out of the dying and useless
elements of Judaism: "In that He saith. Anew
covenant. He hath made the first old. But that
which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh
unto vanishing away."

2. Struggle for Existence.

Nature and history teach us that there is a
struggle for existence, and that in the case of

The Idea of Progress. 298

plants and animals only the fittest survive. This
phase of the great law of evolution is capable of
wide application. Life begins through birth-pains,
nations rise amid the pangs of rebellion, Churches
grow out of the throbs of reformation. But there
is no growth without struggle, no reformation
without agitation. A recent writer says, vdth a
tinge of sarcasm : " By some persons agitation
would seem to be seriously regarded as a condition
of progress, even in a Christian Church." Every-
thing depends upon the interpretation of the word
" agitation." If it means a movement deliberately
planned, maliciously purposed, and cunningly
carried on with the object of wrecking the polity
and blighting the spirituality of the Church, then,
doubtless, it is anything but "a condition of
progress." But if by "agitation" is meant a
movement inspired by love to God and man, planned
with devoutest zeal, and urged with the sole
object of benefiting the religious life of men, then
unquestionably it is "a condition of progress,
even in a Christian Church." New occasions
demand new methods, new methods involve a
change of polity, every change of polity must be
initiated, the initiation of a reform requires a
reformer. No proposed reformation at first meets
with universal acceptance. If we wait for the

294 The Idea of Progress.

whole Church to be agreed before we suggest a
change, the status quo will remain till doomsday.
On the other hand, if we do not wait till the
whole Church is agreed before we suggest a reform,
there will be opposition, discussion, and agitation.
The inference is that agitation, pure in its incep-
tion, charitable in its spirit, and lofty in its object,
is essential to progress and to the expanding life
of the Church.

The most beneficial reforms have grown out of
agitations which have been initiated in strong
spiritual convictions, and which have been con-
ducted with Christlike persistence. The blind
attempt arbitrarily to suppress free expression of
opinion will not ensure that rest and peace in the
Church for which some writers pathetically plead.
The '' hush up " policy of some timid and in-
genuous divines is neither so honest nor so success-
ful as the policy of frank discussion. When " a
murmuring " began among the people, " the
Apostles took the most effective plan to quiet the
trouble which had arisen when they took the
people into their confidence."^ It is not the free
expression of opinion or agitation which we have
to fear, but the bitterness of personal innuendoes
which so often enters into the controversy. The
* Stokes, The Acts of the Apostles, Vol. I., p. 264.

The Idea op Progress. 295

Church has never been free from all ex-
ternal opposition, nor from all internal agi-
tation. Systems of doctrine and forms of govern-
ment have been born and matured amid disputa-
tion. The process of ecclesiastical development
has been promoted by the fearless utterances and
Apostolic zeal of a succession of Christian men.
Are we to silence them? Are we to sup-
press freedom of thought and expression ?
Are we to obstruct all movement because it
threatens to supersede the dead past? It is
better to be aroused and kept awake by holy
agitation and consecrated struggle than to relapse
into, and remain in, religious drowsiness and
spiritual inanition. There is always need for a
few lay and clerical eagles to stir up the too
comfortable ecclesiastical nest.

3. Adaptation to Environment.

While there is life in an organism it may be
resuscitated from apparent death. Some physio-
logists have held the doctrine of revivification ; it
has been alleged that Tardigrades and Rotifers can
be restored to actual life from positive death. It
is, of course, well known that certain animals have
a marvellous power of maintaining vitality in a
prolonged state of immobility. Certain molluscs

296 The Idea of Progeess.

can go several years without eating, and remain
in a state of complete torpor; but in this case
their organs retain sufficient fluid to prevent
existence from being extinguished. In such
instances resuscitation is possible because life has
never been absolutely excluded. The distin-
guished microscopist, Ehrenberg, says of the
resurrectionist-physiologists : " They only resusci-
tate animals which are not dead." But when an
organism is really dead, its tissues desiccated,
there cannot be even the semblance of revivifica-
tion. The phoenix only lives as a myth, and the
dead no longer issue from their tombs at the voice
of Elijah. In the Church there are some institu-
tions that have fallen into inaction and distressing
torpor, which could, and ought to be, revived.
There are others which, through their inutility
and long disuse, have lost all vitality and are
mere hindering bodies of death ; they cannot be
restored, and the attempt to restore them would
be absurd. Much time and energy have been need-
lessly expended in the Church by persons zealously
endeavouring to resuscitate obsolete and buried
ecclesiastical forms and creeds.

Only those institutions, rites, and doctrines of
the Church should be resuscitated which are
capable of being adapted to the modern environ-

The Idea of Progress. 297

ment. Eeformers who attempt to modernise the
Church are always liable to unjust criticism.
When Galileo attested the reality of the spots on
the sun, some theologians, wedded to false philo-
sophical ideas, stubbornly repudiated the fact.
They maintained that the pure and radiant star
was perfectly immaculate, and that its pretended
blemishes only existed on the glasses of the
telescopes of astronomers. Those who venture
to point out defects in Church organisation are
open to a similar charge. It is said by some that
the asserted dark spots in the polity of the Church
exist only in the prejudiced and discontented
minds of the agitators. Needless to say, this
is a total misrepresentation of the spirit and
purpose of all progressive Church leaders. In
seeking to adapt the organism of the Church to
its inevitable environment, these leaders are
simply yielding to a necessary law of progress.
We must not confound adaptation of method
with compromise of principle. The Anglican
Convocation in Westminster Hall is not like the
Council in the Upper-room at Jerusalem. Yet
there is no necessary change of principle. Every
alteration of tactics, every strategic movement to
bring the Church into line with the law of evolu-
tion, is in danger of being attributed to vacilla-

298 The Idea of Progress.

tion of mind and sacrifice of principle. Consistency-
is too often gauged by its superficial form.
Apparent inconsistency of action may be com-
patible with real consistency of purpose. ^^Men
do not always understand the meaning of con-
sistency. They call that changefulness which
ought sometimes to be called growth ; they charge
some men with being given to change who simply
yield themselves to the outworking, to the great
evolutionary laws, which tarn buds into blossoms,
and blossoms into fruit."^

4. Inclusion of Diverse Elements.

One of the Anglo-Saxon kings, -^thelred,
governed the country so badly that the Danes
alarmed the people by their plundering incursions.
The king was too cowardly to fight his enemy, and
he attempted to induce the Danes to leave the
country by paying them large sums of money. To
meet this enormous expenditure he levied a tax
of a shilling on every hide of land. This tax,
Danegelt, was a dark blot upon the English
escutcheon. Of course it utterly failed. The
Danes came in larger numbers after this, and
larger bribes had to be given to satisfy their
growing ambition. At length money failed to

* Parker, Studies in Texts, Vol. L, p. 34.

The Idea op Progress. 299

satisfy the Danes, and ^thelred had to resort to
other means. His next expedient was less
chivalrous than the Danegelt, He devised a
scheme of murdering his enemies, and on the eve
of St. Brice's festival nearly all the Danes were
cruelly and treacherously put to death. Here are
two methods of silencing enemies, bribing and
murdering, and both are to be equally condemned.
The later action of King Alfred is much to be
preferred. By clever stratagem he gained a
knowledge of the Danish camp, and then rallied
his forces and met his foes in open battle. He
gained a great victory at Ethandune in Wiltshire.
He did not murder Guthrum, the Danish
commander, and his followers, but generously
gave them East Anglia, where they settled down
in safety. Shortly afterwards they accepted the
Christian religion, which Alfred did so much
to inculcate among his people. The principle
illustrated in these historical allusions is this :
factious elements and rival parties are more truly
conquered by a policy of conciliation and inclusion,
than by a policy of bribery and exclusion.

Professor Caird says : " There are two periods
in the history of an idea : one in which it shows
itself as a tyrannical force that seeks to crush all
rivals, and to substitute itself in their place ; and

300 The Idea of Progress.

another in which, secure of victory, it begins to
make room for its former opponents within the
domain it has conquered.""^ The truth of this
statement has been strikingly illustrated in the
history of the Church. Unfortunately the Church
has spent long periods in attempting '^ to crush
all rivals and to substitute itself in their place/'
and consequently the Church has been slow " to
make room for its former opponents within the
domain it has conquered." Macaulay draws a
suggestive contrast between the elasticity of the
Romish Church and the rigidity of the Anglican
Church. A man like Bunyan finds no encourage-
ment for his peculiar gifts in the Church of
England. The alternatives presented to him are
•either to be silent or schismatic. Bunyan soon
makes his choice, and in a few weeks the Church
has lost for ever a hundred families. " Far differ-
-ent is the policy of Rome. The ignorant enthusiast
whom the Anglican Church makes an enemy and,
whatever the polite and learned may think, a most
dangerous enemy, the Catholic Church makes a
champion. . . At Rome the Countess of Hunt-
ingdon would have a place in the calendar as St.
Selina, and Mrs. Fry would be foundress and first
Superior of the Blessed Order of Sisters of the

* The Evolution of Religion, p. 261.

The Idea of Progress. 301

Gaols. Place Ignatius Loyola at Oxford; he is
certain to become the head of a formidable
secession. Place John Wesley at Eome; he is
certain to be the first general of a new society
devoted to the interests and honour of the
Church."-^ There are distinctions and divisions
among Nonconformists which probably could have
been averted by a policy of comprehensive in-
clusion. There are Established and Free Presby-
terians; there are Congregational Churches
within the Union, others without; there are
" Strict " and "Liberal " Baptist Churches ; there
are Methodist Churches of many types. Doubt-
less,, many of these divisions might have been
prevented by judiciously imitating the elastic
policy of Eomanism, rather than following the
rigid intolerance of Anglicanism. In the Church
of Christ there are occasional ebullitions of relig-
ious fervour ; sects are initiated which threaten
secession. To avoid schism and disruption the
zealous spirits of the Church must not be bribed to
keep the peace, nor excommunicated for non-com-
pliance with custom. They must be met fairly,
treated generously, and, if possible, afforded a
sphere of labour within the domain of the Church.
" Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same

* Essays, III., pp. 131-4.

302 The Idea op Progress.

Spirit. And there are diversities of ministrations,
and the same Lord. And there are diversities of
workings, but the same God, who worketh all
things in all."

5. Limitless Possibility.

We have no positive proof that man is the
crown of the animate creation. It has been said
that at present " in man mind bears the same
proportion to matter as fifty to fifty, with slight
differences more or less, for sometimes mind and
sometimes matter predominates. In a subsequent
creation, supposing that in which man was
formed not to be the last, there would probably
be organisations in which the mind would act
more freely, and where it would be in the propor-
tion of seventy-five to twenty-five. It results
from these considerations that man was formed
at the most passive epoch of existence on our
earth. Man is a sad middle state between the
animal and the angel ; he aspires to elevated know-
ledge and cannot reach it, albeit our modern
philosophers fancy such is not the case. Man
wishes to fathom the first cause of all that exists,
and cannot attain to it ; with fewer intellectual
faculties he would not have the presumption to
want to know these causes, which, on the other

The Idea of Progress. 303

hand, would be quite clear to him if he were
endowed with a more extended mind." We do
not know the final form of any physical organism ;
this is a secret which, as Pliny strikingly said,
latet in majestate naturoe. But we hold there can
never be a higher type of life than rational life,
self-conscious life. This is the type of man's life,
and it is akin to the Divine. To say that the
human mind is capable of development is simply
to admit that man comes within the universal law
of evolution. Then, if man himself is capable of,
and must yield to, a process of endless progression,
how much more are the institutions and works of
men subject to the same process ? All nature is
active, inactivity is death. The motionless pooj
stagnates into pestilence. The air is kept pure by
gentle breeze or raging storm. The Church must
advance by wise reforms or be shattered by
revolutions.

There is no finality. Across the banner of the
Church write plus ultra. Behold, Christ lives !
Let not the Church coffin Him in orthodox for-
mulae. Behold, He pardons sin. He sanctifies!
Let not the Church interdict the free action of His
grace. " Behold, I make all things new." He is
constantly making (Trotw) all things new. Let the
Church fall into line with the eternal progression.

INDEX.

Agazziz

Altruism

Aristotle ...
Athanasius
Augustine

Bacon 42

Bannerman, Eev., D.D. 51, 186
85
39
27
18
43

PAGE

PAOS

3, 42

Descartes

... 42

... 37

Diaconate, The ..

... Ill

... 41

Disestablishment

262-274

... 6

Disraeli

... 32

6, 120

Dissenter

... 228

Beet, Dr. Agar
Bible, Revised Version
Bourrier, M.
Briggs, Dr. C. A.
Butler, Bishop ...

Cahala,The 11

Caiid, Dr. E. 184, 249, 299

Calvin 101

Church, The ... 49, 61

Church and Kingdom 62-65
Church and State 220-274
Church, Government of

137-176
Church, Membership of 72-77
Clement of Alexandria ... 6
Clergy, Celibacy of ... 194
Conference, The Peace ... 35
Congregationalism 139, 170
Connexionalism 165, 170-176

Constantino 4

Criticism, Biblical ... 38

Darwin ... 3

Deacons ... ... 155, 157

Deaconesses 156

Denney, Dr. James ... 71

Ecclesia ... 50,54,57-59
Ecclesiastical Polity ... 138
Edgar, Dr. McCheyne 65, 199
Elders, Appointment of... 153

Episcopalianism 144

Equality of Men 183

Eusebius 121

Fairbaim, Dr. A. M.

78, 100, 108

Farrar, Dean 287

Find lay. Prof. G. G. ... 65
Free Church Teaching ... 123

Freeman, E. A 236

Froude, J. A. ... 22,29

Galileo 42.297

God, Conceptions of ... 5-8
Gregory, Dr. Benjamin ... 211

Haeckel 3

Harrison, Frederic ... 33
Hatch, Dr. E. 10, 23, 80, 197

Hildebrand 4

History versus Dogma ... 124

Hooker ... 186

Hort, Dr. F. J. A. 51, 129, 148

Hume 14

Huxley, Late Prof . ... 43

20

306

Index.

Ignatius . . .

Independency

Irenseus

PAGE

... 89

165-170

... 120

Jacob, Dr. a. A. ... 187,188
Judas, Apostleship of ... 104

Knight, Charles

226

Labour, Capital and ... 28

Laity 181

Laity, New Testament

Position of 182

Laity and Sacraments 187-190
Laity in Methodism 207-218

Liddon, Canon 116

Lightfoot, Bishop ... 125

Lucretius 7

Luther ... 4, 42, 43, 83

Macaulay 17, 300

Manning, Cardinal ... 124

Meyer 71,98,155

Mill, J. S 36

Ministry, Free Church

View of 122-133

Ministry, Sacerdotal

Claims 115-121

Ministry, Scriptural Doc-
trine of 96

Mivart, St. George ... 43
Morison, Dr. James ... 98
Mystery, Fascination of 11-13

Newman, Cardinal 13-15, 118

Newton 42

Nonconformist ... ... 228

Nonconformist Claim ... 79

Optimism 3 5-44

Ordination ... 127-133

Origen ... ... ... 6

Oxford Movement, The 4, 74

...8-10

PAGE

Parker, Dr. Joseph ...298
Patriotism ... ... 28

Paul, Apostleship of 101-103

Pearson, Bishop 121

Pessimism ... 31-35

Pliny 72,303

Pope, Eev. W. B. ... 189

Potter, Bishop ... ... 116

Preaching, Importance of 158
Presbyterianism... ... 141

Presbyteriate, The 108-111

Pressense ... 186

Priesthood ...96,97,182

Progress, General

Grounds of ... 278-288
Progress, Particular Laws

of 288-303

Protestantism and Pros-
perity 44-46

Protestantism and Science 41

Ramsay, Professor ... 128
Keformation, The Place

of 37-21

Rigg, Dr. J. H. 88, 113, 163
Romanism and the Bible

12,30
Romanism and the Con-
fessional 73

Romanism in France ... 27
Ryle, Bishop 200

Sacerdotalism ... 5, 100, 127

Scepticism 13

Slater, Prof. W. F. ... 130

Smith, Dr. G. A 283

Smith, Robertson ... 97

Spencer, Herbert 276, 283
Spirituality versus Ex-

ternalism . . . 23-27

State-Church :
A Modern Invention ... 231
Injustices Involved in 258
Reforms Demanded in 263

Index.

807

State-Control :

Unscriptural 243

Checks Spontaneity ... 247

Cannot be Permanent 252

Stephen, Sir James ... 45

Sfcillingfleet 137

Stokes, Dr. G. T.... 101, 294

Swift, Dean 35

Synagogue 50

Taylor, Jeremy 16

Teaching of the Apostles,

The 40, 41

Tertullian 120

Tractarians 14, 114, 117

Trench, Archbishop ... 50

Tyranny, Kevolt Against 17

Uhlhorn 8, 287

Ultramontane Error ... 21

Uniformity, Act of 83. 228

Union, Organic 86

Unions, IVades 87

Vaughan, Dean
Vinet
Voltaire ...

267

288

46

Walsh, Walter 77

War, ni Effects of 83-36
Watson, Dr. John 88-80
Wesley ... 43, 84, 130, 178
Wotton, Sir Henry ... 30
WycMe 4

LONDON
8PEAIGHT AND SONS, PBINTEBS,
FETTER LANE, E.C.